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. – U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced Savonte Watkins, 46, of Charlotte, to 42 months in prison on drug charges yesterday, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Bell also ordered Watkins to serve three years under court supervision after...

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...

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Dr. Mark S.T. Armitage, a physician practicing with Pelican Family Medicine in Wilmington, North Carolina, agreed to pay $170,000 to resolve alleged violations of the Controlled Substances Act. Dr. Armitage, who previously surrendered his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration to prescribe controlled substances, further agreed not to...

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...

SAVANNAH, GA - A Coffee County, Ga., physician has been sentenced to five years in federal prison after he admitted to participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy that distributed massive amounts of addictive-controlled substances from pain management and addiction clinics. Dr. Wallace Steven Anderson, 68, of Douglas, Ga., was sentenced...

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Robeson County man was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possessing with the intent to distribute thousands of illegal prescription pills including oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone, and methadone. On February 16, 2021, Jeffrey Randal Brooks, Jr., pleaded guilty to the charges...

GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA — Keowsha Golden, 36, of Greenville, was sentenced to more than 1o years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. Evidence presented to the Court showed that Golden obtained prescription paper and then forged physician information to write prescriptions for 30 milligram oxycodone...