Charges Against Pharma Reps for Unlawful Sales of Nearly 70M Opioid Pills.
Ten executives, sales representatives, and brokers from pharmaceutical distribution have been charged for their involvement in the illegal sale of nearly 70 million opioid pills.
Charges have been brought against five executives from pharmaceutical distribution companies, along with five sales representatives and brokers, in the Southern District of Texas, Southern District of Florida, Eastern District of Missouri, and Eastern District of North Carolina. This action is part of a broader enforcement effort concerning the illegal distribution of nearly 70 million opioid pills and more than 30 million doses of other frequently abused prescription medications to suspected pill-mill pharmacies in the Houston area.
Court documents reveal that the opioids in question—oxycodone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone—were offered in various strengths and forms. However, the distributors reportedly focused on selling these drugs primarily in their most potent and commonly abused immediate-release pill versions, which fetched higher prices on the black market. Additionally, they allegedly provided prescription drug enhancers like alprazolam, carisoprodol, and promethazine with codeine syrup, known for intensifying the effects of the opioids. It is claimed that these distributors charged their customers in Houston significantly more than what a legitimate pharmacy would typically charge.
“The defendants, including pharmaceutical drug distributors, allegedly exploited the opioid crisis for profit — selling dangerous and addictive drugs to pill-mill pharmacies at above-market prices, knowing that the drugs would end up on the black market,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The drugs had a staggering black-market value of over $1.3 billion. These charges represent the Justice Department’s largest criminal enforcement action targeting executives, brokers, and alleged pill-mill pharmacy owners for unlawfully distributing opioids and other commonly abused drugs. Our message is clear: we will not hesitate in our pursuit of those involved in dumping addictive pharmaceutical drugs onto the streets.”
The charging documents claim that the defendants primarily focused on pill-mill pharmacies in and around Houston, which is known nationally as a hotspot for the illegal diversion of pharmaceutical opioids. The distributors attempted to evade the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)’s scrutiny through various tactics, including adhering to what one defendant referred to as a “blueprint” for staying under the radar: setting high prices, imposing low purchasing limits on controlled substances, and implementing compliance measures that were merely for show. Furthermore, all the distributors operated from outside Texas, distancing themselves from their Houston-area pill-mill pharmacy clients and the communities suffering from the consequences of their alleged actions.
“The defendants in the charges announced today are alleged to be responsible for significantly contributing to the devastation caused by the opioid crisis by knowingly supplying pill-mill pharmacies and coaching pharmacy operators on how to evade law enforcement detection. According to the charging documents, they knowingly sold bulk narcotics to drug traffickers and to pharmacies they knew were selling to drug traffickers,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “As alleged, these defendants — owners, CEOs, executives, brokers — put profits over the health and safety of the American public. No one is above the law. If you contribute to the opioid epidemic, if you profit from the devastation of communities, we will hold you accountable. I commend the collaboration between DEA’s Diversion Control Division, our field divisions in St. Louis, Miami, Atlanta, Phoenix, Louisville and Houston, and our other state and federal law enforcement partners whose dedication to this investigation led us here today.”
“The distributors that sourced pills into the Houston area may be located across the country in Arizona, Florida, Maryland, California, North Carolina, and elsewhere, but they targeted Houston, helping to make it a known ‘hot zone’ for drug diversion,” said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani for the Southern District of Texas. “This office will always support the prosecution of individuals who try to thwart law enforcement and oversight by operating across state lines, posing as legitimate businesses, while in reality poisoning our district by targeting pill mills with precisely the drugs at the heart of our country’s addiction crisis. While there remain others who will be held accountable in the future, these cases build on this district’s history of systematically dismantling pill-mill clinics, pharmacies, and the often-violent drug-trafficking organizations, responsible for selling these pills in our community.”
“The use of protocols outside of common industry practice has contributed to the current opioid epidemic. To boost their profits, bad actors facilitate the distribution of opioids without medical necessity, threatening the lives and health of the public and the integrity of the Medicare program,” said Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Our agency, working with our law enforcement partners, will continue to thoroughly investigate such schemes.”
“The FBI is dedicated to stopping dangerous controlled drugs from ending up in the wrong hands in communities across the country,” said Assistant Director Chad Yarbrough of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “These charges are another example of our continued multi-prong attack on those who contribute to the opioid crisis. The FBI and our partners investigate crimes at every level from the wholesaler pharmaceutical companies supplying the local pill-mill pharmacies to those selling the dangerous drugs on the street and black-market. We will not let anyone cash in and take advantage of people dealing with a drug addiction.”
“Supplying diverted prescription drugs undermines FDA safeguards designed to protect the public, compromising public safety for personal gain,” said Assistant Commissioner Justin Green of the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA-OCI). “This investigation is a clear demonstration that the FDA will not stop pursuing and bringing to justice those who put the public health at risk.”
“Today’s charges are a reminder of the continued danger of the opioid epidemic and the resolve of the investigative and legal teams,” said Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Ulrich of the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG). “Anyone, including corporate executives, who knowingly facilitates opioid abuse will be held accountable for their greed and total disregard for safety.”
According to court documents, the following individuals were charged as part of today’s enforcement action:
- Sheldon Dounn, 71, of Plantation, Florida, was charged for allegedly brokering the sale of millions of opioid pills and other commonly abused prescription drugs, mostly to Houston-area independent pharmacies that then sold the pills on to the black market. He was indicted in the Southern District of Texas with five counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances; two counts of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense, and possess with intent to distribute and dispense, controlled substances; and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with a scheme to unlawfully distribute and dispense nearly 10 million opioid pills to pharmacies in Houston and Florida. Richard “Dick” Osbourne, 78, of Memphis, Tennessee, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Texas to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense, and possess with intent to distribute and dispense, controlled substances, and Courtney Rotenberry, 45, of Savannah, Tennessee, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Texas to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of conspiracy to use a communications facility to further the commission of a drug felony, in connection with the same scheme. According to court documents, Osbourne was the president of Wholesale Rx, while Rotenberry served as sales manager and, for a brief period, managed day-to-day operations at the company, including purported compliance. She also handled some of the company’s pharmacy accounts. As alleged, Dounn brought Wholesale Rx what he called the “model” — a “blueprint” for staying “under the radar” of regulators and law enforcement through over-market prices, low purchasing limits, and perfunctory compliance in hopes of making a “lot of money” — which was based on Dounn’s experience as a pharmaceutical sales broker. Dounn allegedly brokered sales of commonly abused prescription drugs from Wholesale Rx to his pharmacy customers in Houston. Dounn also allegedly sold the same pills from at least two other wholesalers to his Houston-area customers and some Florida customers, often in addition to the drugs the pharmacies purchased from Wholesale Rx. Rotenberry also falsely represented to the DEA that Wholesale Rx preformed meaningful due diligence on its Houston-area pharmacy customers when Wholesale Rx did not. If convicted, Dounn faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each unlawful distribution-related count and five years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States. Osbourne faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Rotenberry faces a maximum penalty of five years on the conspiracy to defraud the United States count and four years on the conspiracy to use a communications facility to further the commission of a drug felony count.
- Hernan Alvarez, 52, of Phoenix, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Texas to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances in connection with a scheme to distribute over 18.6 million commonly abused opioid units. As alleged, Alvarez, the president of DEA-registered pharmaceutical distributor Salus Medical LLC (Salus), along with his co-conspirators, aimed to generate profits by selling commonly abused opioids and other drugs into the Houston market. Despite a meeting with DEA officials in 2017, during which Alvarez and his sales manager were informed of distributors’ obligations to provide effective controls against diversion and were trained on red flags for Salus to look out for, Alvarez targeted certain Houston-area pharmacies because those pharmacies were willing to pay over-market prices for commonly abused prescription drugs. Alvarez knew that these Houston-area pharmacies were able to pay inflated prices for the drugs because the pharmacies unlawfully sold them, for cash, mainly to street-level drug dealers. Alvarez faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
- Joshua Weinstein, 50, of Miami, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Florida to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense, and possess with intent to distribute and dispense, controlled substances; and Derrick “Chad” Atkinson, 40, of Lumberton, North Carolina, was charged by information in the Eastern District of North Carolina with the same, in connection with a scheme to distribute over 7 million hydrocodone, oxycodone, and hydromorphone pills. As alleged, Weinstein was the president of a pharmaceutical drug wholesaler headquartered in Miami, and Atkinson was a sales representative who serviced many of the company’s Houston-area pharmacy accounts. Weinstein, Atkinson, and their co-conspirators allegedly sold commonly abused prescription drugs at a large markup into the Houston market, while implementing purported compliance measures that mostly facilitated, instead of prevented, diversion. According to court documents, in or around 2017, after Atkinson was hired, the company’s sales of commonly abused prescription drugs to Houston-area pharmacies dramatically increased. In addition to serving as president of the Miami wholesaler, Weinstein served as a sales representative for an alleged Houston-area pill-mill pharmacy, for which Weinstein secured an increase in the pharmacy’s purchasing limits for commonly abused prescription drugs and picked non-controlled substances the pharmacy needed to purchase to meet the wholesaler’s required controlled-to-non-controlled substance purchasing ratio. Weinstein faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. If convicted, Atkinson faces the same.
- Jason Smith, 43, of Plantation, Florida, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Florida to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense, and possess with intent to distribute and dispense, controlled substances. Joseph Pesserillo, 38, of The Villages, Florida, and Cassandra Rivera, 40, of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, were charged by information in the Southern District of Florida with one count of conspiracy to use a communications facility to further the commission of a drug felony. All three defendants were charged in connection with a scheme to facilitate the distribution of tens of millions of commonly abused prescription drugs from Salus and three other pharmaceutical drug wholesalers. According to court documents, Smith owned and operated Proven Rx Sales LLC (Proven), a purported pharmaceutical consulting company that helped mid-level distributors sell commonly abused prescription drugs to Houston-area pill-mill pharmacies. Smith dealt primarily with the owners and upper management for Proven’s distributors, while Proven sales representatives Pesserillo and Rivera allegedly serviced the accounts of pill-mill pharmacies in the Houston area. Smith faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. If convicted, Pesserillo and Rivera each face a maximum penalty of four years in prison.
- Eric Bailey, 59, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Missouri to one count of possession with intent to distribute hydrocodone and oxycodone, in connection with a scheme to distribute over 11 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills. According to court documents, Bailey, the owner and operator of Emed Medical Company LLC (Emed), a pharmaceutical drug distributor, controlled Emed’s purchase and sale of controlled substances — including purchasing the commonly abused prescription drugs sold to Houston-area pharmacies — setting prices, approving new customers, and setting purported compliance protocols. In December 2021, Bailey was notified by a drug manufacturer that unless Emed implemented improved due diligence programs, the manufacturer would no longer sell Emed controlled substances. Bailey received compliance recommendations but did not implement them. Instead he purchased from a new drug manufacturer thousands of oxycodone and hydrocodone pills with the intent to distribute them to Emed’s Houston-area pharmacy customers that he knew would unlawfully distribute them. Bailey faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
- Velencia Griffin, 42, Kendal Lyons, 29, and Andre Reid, 44, of Houston, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Texas to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense, and possess with intent to distribute, controlled substances. Griffin, Lyons, and Reid operated Houston-area pharmacies that purchased commonly abused controlled pharmaceutical drugs ordered through Sheldon Dounn. Griffin, Lyons, and Reid each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.