News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fall River Man Sentenced To 10 Years For Oxycontin Distribution

OCT 23--Boston, MA….Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New England; Mark Dragonnetti, Resident Agent in Charge of the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations and United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan announced that Norman L. SMITH, age 49 of Fall River, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joseph L. Tauro to 10 years' imprisonment, to be followed by 6 years of supervised release. SMITH had pleaded guilty in July, 2003 to 12 counts of an indictment charging him with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, oxycodone and hydrocodone; possession with intent to distribute oxycodone and/or hydrocodone, and conspiracy to engage in the unlicensed wholesale distribution in interstate commerce of the prescription drug OxyContin.

At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the Government's evidence would have proven that on ten occasions between April 17, 2001, and December 6, 2001, SMITH sold oxycodone, either the brand OxyContin or versions of Percocet, which is a trade name for a compound containing oxycodone and acetaminophen, to an undercover law enforcement officer. The transactions were monitored and tape-recorded. A total of about 1,118 oxycodone tablets and 238 hydrocodone tablets were purchased or seized during the course of the conspiracy. OxyContin is a prescription drug, manufactured outside of Massachusetts. Smith was not licensed for the wholesale distribution of prescription drugs.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Tactical Diversion Squad and the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations.

Press Contact: Anthony J. Pettigrew, (617) 557-2138