Columbus Pharmacy Owner Pleads Guilty To Unlawfully Distributing Oxycodone
Fletcher admits to distributing Oxy for no legitimate medical purpose
COLUMBUS, OH - On January 11, 2011, Harold Eugene Fletcher, 42, owner of the East Main Street Pharmacy in Columbus, plead guilty in U.S. District Court to illegal distribution of the painkiller, oxycodone. He also plead guilty to one count of structuring financial transactions and one count of filing a false income tax return.
Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Robert L. Corso, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA), and Jose Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue (IRS), announced the pleas, which were entered on January 11, before U.S. District Judge Michael Watson.
Fletcher, a registered pharmacist, owned and operated the East Main Street Pharmacy at 1336 East Main Street in Columbus. Under federal law, oxycodone is a controlled substance used in the treatment of chronic pain.
According to a statement of facts read during the plea hearing, Fletcher distributed oxycodone outside the usual course of professional practice and without any legitimate medical purpose in February 2006. Fletcher also structured bank deposits of more than $100,000 by breaking the cash amounts into deposits of less than $10,000 each in an attempt to evade federal reporting requirements regarding cash deposits. Fletcher also admitted to filing a false federal income tax return for 2006. Fletcher agreed to file an amended income tax return for 2006.
Judge Watson has not set a date for sentencing. Stewart commended the cooperative investigation conducted by DEA’s diversion investigators and agents of the IRS.
