On Jan. 23, it was reported that a New York drug dealing ring that was responsible for pushing more than 160,000 oxycodone pills was busted by the authorities. Two individuals who were thought to be the leaders were taken into police custody at their homes.
Authorities stated that the alleged ringleaders would send out runners to different pharmacies throughout New York City. The runners were provided with fake prescription notes from one doctor’s office. It was believed that the runners had approximately 1,000 prescriptions fulfilled between late 2011 and early 2017. In August 2016, the ring did scale back slightly when state officials created the I-STOP program, which gave pharmacies the ability to track a person’s prescription history.
One of the individuals was identified as a 45-year-old Glendale man while the second person was identified as a 53-year-old Valley Stream man. Both were charged as “major traffickers”. The name of the doctor who provided the prescriptions was not provided, though authorities were still investigating how so many prescriptions that were connected to the specific clinic were able to be forged.
In New York state, drug crimes are taken very seriously and often have serious consequences. People who have been accused of trafficking drugs will likely face a jail sentence if a conviction is obtained. As a result, it could be advisable for them to seek the assistance of a criminal defense attorney as soon as possible in order to start building a strategy to counter the allegations.
Source: New York City Patch, “Massive NYC Oxy Ring Busted For $3 Million In Alleged Pill Sales“, Simone Wilson, Jan. 23, 2017
