Morgan City man sentenced in Pennsylvania drug fraud scheme

A Morgan City man was one of two Louisiana men sentenced Friday for their roles in a prescription drug fraud scheme in Pennsylvania that both men pleaded guilty to in September 2016, according to an IRS official.

Troy Tapia of Morgan City and Anthony Rouse III of Raceland, who pleaded guilty Sept. 27 to the charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and mail fraud in Pennsylvania, were each sentenced to three years of probation with no restrictions, forfeiture of $433,833 and a $2,000 fine, IRS Spokesman Special Agent Thomas Czerski said in an email. U.S. District Court Judge Joy Conti sentenced both defendants.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania prosecuted the case. The IRS assisted in the investigation.

According to a bill of information, Duangthip Chutivaraporn, a previously convicted co-conspirator, was in charge of the business venture that operated edrugnet.com, overseas-foreign-pharmacy.com and websites that linked to them. Chutivaraporn is from Thailand.

Drugs sold to U.S. citizens by edrugnet.com and overseas-foreign-pharmacy.com were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

From June 6, 2008, to March 2, 2012, in the Western District of Pennsylvania and elsewhere, Tapia and Rouse conspired with Chutivaraporn and others to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering, the bill said.

Edrugnet.com and affiliated linked websites made material false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises that led U.S. consumers to believe they could buy, import and receive prescription drugs without a valid prescription, supervision of a physician or FDA-approved labeling.

Overseas-foreign-pharmacy.com and edrugnet.com and other websites linking back to the first two sites falsely represented that they were licensed to ship medications to anywhere in the world, including the U.S. In fact, edrugnet.com wasn’t licensed by the

FDA or any other licensing entity in the U.S. to distribute drugs nor were Tapia and Rouse, the bill said.

Edrugnet.com shipped prescription medications purchased by U.S. customers into the U.S. “using false representations as to the contents of the packages to evade seizure” by U.S. law enforcement officials, according to the bill.

Conspirators concealed the nature of credit card transactions from credit card processors and didn’t allow “their online pharmacy name to be listed on billing documents to prevent card processors from declining to process prescription purchase transactions,” the bill said.

Websites, including edrugnet.com, sold prescription medications, which were not approved for distribution in the U.S., to an undercover agent, the bill stated.

Tapia and Rouse participated with Chutivaraporn and others in the sale and distribution of Nubain and Fioricet over the internet in exchange for payments transmitted to Thailand by U.S. customers, the bill said.

Tapia and Rouse shipped Nubain and Fiorecet in the U.S. mail in a way that concealed their identities by using false return addresses and “a variety of origin locations for the shipments,” the bill stated.

As part of the conspiracy, edrugnet.com and affiliated sites made at least 774 sales of 1,671 Nubain vials without prescriptions and made at least 258 sales of 31,710 Fioricet pills without prescriptions, from June 6, 2008, until Jan. 16, 2012. Tapia and Rouse supplied, filled and shipped orders, the bill said.

From July 15, 2009, to Dec. 6, 2011, edrugnet.com received about $14,759.30 in proceeds from buys by undercover agents, the bill said.

One of the “overt acts” the co-conspirators were accused of occurred in Louisiana. On March 2, 2012, Tapia and Rouse “possessed quantities of Nubain and Fioricet at a location in Raceland for the purpose” of filling customer orders that Chutivaraporn got through edrugnet.com and affiliated sites.