Two Indicted in Scheme to Traffic in Stolen Pharmaceuticals

A federal grand jury June 8 returned an indictment against two Florida men who allegedly conspired to traffic in pharmaceutical drugs from a shipment, worth $8.8 million, stolen at a Georgia truck stop and driven to New Jersey, a U.S. attorney announced. The two men, both from Hialeah, Florida, were previously arrested on a complaint charging them with conspiracy to receive and sell stolen goods. The two-count indictment charges the conspiracy and adds a substantive count of the receipt and attempted sale of stolen goods. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The receipt and attempted sale of stolen property count carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. According to the indictment and other documents filed in this case: the two men and their coconspirators trafficked in stolen pharmaceutical drugs from July 2009 through October 2009. In October 2009, one of the men and his co-conspirators negotiated the sale of a sanofi-aventis shipment stolen from the Georgia truck stop to a buyer in New Jersey. The FBI seized the stolen shipment before the men and their co-conspirators could complete the sale of the pharmaceuticals, which included Xyzal, Nasacort AQ, Benzaclin Gel, and Lovenox. One of the men pleaded guilty in April 2011. Two other men pleaded guilty to both counts in November 2010, and are scheduled to be sentenced August 8.