United States Drug Enforcement Administration

WASHINGTON – A federal court ordered an Elkin, North Carolina, pharmacy to pay a $500,000 penalty and enjoined the pharmacy and its pharmacists from dispensing controlled substances, including opioids, without taking steps to help ensure the drugs will not be abused or diverted. The consent decree resolves a complaint filed...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The owner of a Charlotte area car dealership and a sales manager have pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. John Harvey Martin, 50, of Charlotte, pleaded guilty today, and Vincent Emmanuel Jefferson, Jr...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A North Carolina physician appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan C. Rodriguez this morning on charges related to the alleged unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. A criminal indictment charging Henry Ronald Emery, Jr...

NEW BERN, N.C. – A three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous, published opinion affirming former physician Jong Whan Kim’s conviction and sentence for operating a pill mill in Tabor City. The Fourth Circuit’s decision was the first published opinion by the Court upholding a...

RALEIGH, N.C. – A former Fuquay-Varina nurse was sentenced today to 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release for tampering with painkillers intended for surgery patients. On March 9, 2022, Melissa Elizabeth Chacona pled guilty to the charges. “Surgical patients trust healthcare providers to give them the...

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Savitz Drug Store, Inc., has agreed to pay $275,000 to resolve allegations that it committed recordkeeping and dispensing violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). These requirements are designed to prevent the diversion of controlled substances. This civil settlement includes a corrective action plan and is the...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jose Velasquez, 38, of Mexico, was sentenced yesterday to 151 months in prison and five years of supervised release for drug trafficking, money laundering, and illegal reentry, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge...

DURHAM, N.C. – Aspirar Pharmacy, LLC and Aspirar Pharmacy of Durham, LLC (collectively Aspirar Pharmacy), located in Cary and Durham, North Carolina, respectively, have agreed to pay the United States $100,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the Controlled Substances Act from 2017-2018 by filling prescriptions for a physician who...

ATLANTA - Rodriquez Deonte Redding has been sentenced for trafficking cocaine and laundering his drug profits by purchasing luxury cars in his mother’s and grandmother’s names. He faced new charges of wire fraud and the court imposed an additional sentence of one year and three months after the government discovered...

ATLANTA - Thomas Ukoshovbera A. Gbenedio has been convicted by a federal jury of illegally dispensing and distributing controlled substances from his pharmacy. “Removing and ultimately eliminating healthcare providers who unlawfully dispense pharmaceutical products for non-medical reasons is an important part of DEA’s mission,” said Special Agent in Charge of...