HOUSTON – A federal jury has convicted a Houston pharmacist for her role in a “pill-mill” pharmacy that unlawfully dispensed over 100,000 opioid pills in exchange for cash, the United States Department of Justice said Thursday.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from January 2014 to January 2018, Deanna Winfield-Gates, 54, was a relief pharmacist at Health Fit Pharmacy (Health Fit).
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Investigators said Health Fit dispensed controlled substances to drug traffickers in exchange for hundreds of dollars, often based on prescriptions that were fraudulent and issued in the names of physicians whose identities were stolen.
Winfield-Gates allegedly filled large volumes of cookie-cutter prescriptions for the opioids hydrocodone 10-325 mg and oxycodone 30 mg and for carisoprodol, alprazolam and promethazine with codeine, often in combination, knowing these controlled substances were likely to be diverted or abused.
The jury convicted Winfield-Gates Wednesday of one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances. She is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 11, 2024. At that time, she faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, the DOJ said.
Investigators said Winfield-Gates was the last remaining defendant charged in this case. Three others previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy.
The Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation. Trial attorneys Drew Pennebaker and Courtney Chester of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
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