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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, today announced that a federal jury in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., has convicted Alexander Fernandez of four felony charges: (1) conspiracy to distribute Vicodin, a Schedule III substance and Xanax, a Schedule IV substance, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846; (2) possession with intent to distribute Vicodin; (3) possession with intent to distribute Xanax, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1); and (4) conspiracy to engage in the unlicensed wholesale distribution of prescription drugs, including Viagra, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, 371.
"FDA is fully committed to the challenging task of protecting the integrity of the U.S. drug supply, " said Commissioner of Food and Drugs Mark. B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D.,"Our criminal investigators are to be commended for their good work in helping to make sure that Americans get safe and effective prescription drugs."
The jury announced the guilty verdicts on July 8, 2003, following the conclusion of a one-week trial. At the trial, the government proved that Fernandez used his position as a deliveryman at a pharmacy to obtain large amounts of controlled and non-controlled prescription drugs to sell to a confidential informant’s cousin, a supposed drug dealer. Fernandez, and Walter Lopez, a co-conspirator who pled guilty to all of the counts in the Indictment, agreed to distribute 3000 pills of Vicodin, 2000 pills of Xanax, and 5000 pills of Viagra to the confidential informant’s cousin for $58,300. On November 9, 2000, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations agents arrested Fernandez as he attempted to deliver the drugs to the confidential informant in a parking lot near I-95 and Commercial Boulevard in Ft. Lauderdale.
Sentencing is scheduled for September 18, 2003, at 9:30 a.m., before United States District Court Judge William P. Dimitrouleas in Ft. Lauderdale. The defendant faces a maximum term of 5 years’ imprisonment on the conspiracy counts; 5 years imprisonment for distributing a Schedule III controlled substance; and 3 years’ imprisonment for distributing a Schedule IV controlled substance. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000.
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