That's what the U.S. attorney's office alleges in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury Wednesday. The group faces drug importation, distribution, money laundering and wire fraud charges that could mean up to 20 years in federal prison and fines of up to $1 million per charge for some.
The group operated at least four Web sites, primarily www.lighthousemeds.com and www.federalmeds.com, selling Valium, Ritalin, Xanax and the weight-loss drug Phentermine.
To gather customers, a Provo gynecologist, James A. Brinton, 61, allegedly struck a deal with Direct Pharmacy, a legitimate pharmacy in Florida. Direct Pharmacy rejected 95 percent of the people who applied for prescriptions, and court documents say Brinton offered to pay for the company's online advertising if they sent those people to lighthousemeds.com.
Those who went to lighthousemeds.com didn't need a prescription, or were given one without an evaluation. Authorities say the site never had a licensed pharmacist.
They did, however, have customers - nearly 60,000 transactions over 18 months ending in 2006, according to court documents.
Noah Sifuentes, 56, of Orem, allegedly handled the drug supply from two production plants in Mexico. They initially bought from Save-On-Meds, but later switched to Investicion Farmeceutica, located in an industrial city in the Valley of Cuernavaca. Gregory J. Crosby, 52, of Provo, allegedly bought the factory a mold so their pills would be oblong like those sold in the United States, rather than round.
The Phentermine was smuggled over the border and unpacked in Phoenix. The drug was sold online for $118 a bottle, then re-packaged and sent through Fed-Ex all over the country. Often, customers bought several 90-count bottles on the same day or over successive days. A prescription of more than 30 of the once-a-day pills would be suspect, court documents state.
"Many people in Utah, myself included, understand what it is like to have loved one, family member, friend or co-worker struggling with prescription drug abuse," said U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman.
The investigation started in 2003 with a tip from a member of a pharmacy board in Philadelphia, said Drug Enforcement Agency supervisory special agent Michael Root.
"They said, 'Hey, they aren't doing it the right way, and they're making a lot more money than we are,' " he said. IRS agents followed the money from the factories in Mexico to the Internet pharmacies in Utah while DEA and FBI agents bought drugs from the sites. The agents often found the drugs were much weaker than their labels prescribed or not what they ordered at all.
"They could potentially harm recipients of these medications," said Timothy Fuhrman, special agent in charge of FBI's Salt Lake City division.
With the money they made, the operators bought a 2006 Mercedes-Benz, and houses in Provo, Salt Lake City and St. George. To evade federal reporting laws, they broke down amounts of more than $10,000 and stashed the cash in accounts and sub-accounts under several different names, court documents state.
Brinton, Crosby, and Sifuentes, along with Christina K. Haramija, 30, and Laura B. Harding, 32, both of Lehi, face similar charges.
Only one of the 18 is now in custody; Edgar U. Flores-Cuevas, 35, of Mexico, the alleged agent for Investicion Farmeceutica. Three other Mexican nationals face distribution charges: Enrique Hipolito-Ruiz, 58; Victor Francisco Hipolito-Martinez, 35; and Jorge Hipolito-Martinez, 30.
Several other Utah residents face the same: Martha Forrest, 65, of Salt Lake City; Kenneth E. Forrest, 42, and Timothy A. Shields, 44, both of Provo; Treila Shumway, 38, of Manti; Deborah E. McCoard, 41, of Spring City; Kimberly Lobdell, 38, of South Jordan; Charles J. Stuart III, 51, of Mapleton; and Thomas Myers, 47, of Sandy. California resident Rex E. Southwick, 33, of Orange, was also charged.
Buying and dispensing prescriptions over the Internet is not illegal, Tolman said.
"However, as with any other business, there are those who operate outside the lines of what is legal in an attempt to make money," he said. "The risk is that while those running these illegal businesses are making millions of dollars, those using the businesses to order prescription medication may very well be putting their health at risk."
Legitimate Web sites will ask for many checks and balances, investigators said, while rogue sites will be most concerned with how the customer will pay and which drugs he or she wants to buy.
