Dental assistant sentenced to 19 months in prison for unlawful prescription pain pill distribution
CAMDEN, N.J. – DEA New Jersey Division Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Gibson and U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Craig Carpenito announced a Pennsylvania woman was sentenced today to 19 months in prison for unlawfully distributing prescription opioid pain medication in the Philadelphia and South Jersey areas.
Nancy Ayres, 44, aka “Nancy Esslinger,” of Upper Chichester, Penn., previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb to an information charging her with one count of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute oxycodone. Judge Bumb imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.
Ayres is a certified dental assistant and has worked in several dental offices in the Philadelphia area and neighboring states. Beginning in at least December 2017, Ayres obtained prescriptions in close proximity to each other for large quantities of oxycodone pills from at least three different medical professionals.
Between April 2018 and June 2018, Ayres allegedly sold 1,044 15- and 20-milligram oxycodone tablets. Ayres made representations that she could obtain other prescription medications for sale, including muscle relaxers and medications for pain management, erectile dysfunction and anxiety.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Bumb sentenced Ayres to three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gibson, and the N.J. Attorney General’s Atlantic City Task Force, under the direction of Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
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