After a six-week trial, Steven Sodipo and Callixtus Nwaehiri were convicted of selling hydrocodone with online prescriptions:
According to testimony in the six-week trial, Sopido and Nwaehiri took part in a nationwide conspiracy to illegally sell hydrocodone through the Internet to any customer with a valid credit card.
Prosecutors say the pair engaged in agreements with Web site operators to fill hydrocodone prescriptions e-mailed to them that were signed by a small group of doctors.
Authorities say the doctors never saw or spoke to customers, and routinely authorized the prescriptions, which were then wired to NewCare Pharmacy, which Sopido and Nwaehiri owned, for filling and shipment.
This is from Baltimore’s WJZ.com.
The government’s press release describing the superseding indictment from last September is available here (.pdf). According to the indictment, two people died after overdosing on multiple drugs, including hydrocodone ordered from the defendants’ site. In May 2008, McKesson agreed to pay over $13 million to the government to settle claims that it failed to report the suspicious sales involving Newcare pharmacy.
