This U.S. Department of Justice is going after $40 million in profits from six men facing charges of illegally distributing drugs through an Internet pharmacy.
The men, from the U.S. and Puerto Rico, were indicted Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa in Cedar Rapids, according to the DOJ.
Facing charges in the 31-count indictment are Orlando Birbraghyer, 50, of Miami; Marshall Neil Kanner, 52, of Miami Beach, Florida.; Jack Eugene Huzl, 69, formerly of Dubuque, Iowa; Douglas Willis Bouchey, 53, formerly of Dubuque; Armando Angulo, 55, formerly of Miami; and Peter Lopez, 53, formerly of Puerto Rico.
The men, allegedly connected with BuyMeds.com, were charged with conspiring to illegally distribute more than 12 million narcotic pain pills and other controlled-substance medications through more than 246,000 prescriptions. They also face charges of maintaining a drug-involved premises and employing minors in a drug offense, the DOJ said in a news release.
The BuyMeds.com site was down Friday morning.
The defendants were also charged with conspiring to launder money from the alleged Internet drug conspiracy. Huzl, Bouchey, Angulo and Lopez are charged in separate counts with illegal distributions of controlled medications, the DOJ said. Huzl is charged with making two illegal distributions of controlled medications to a minor.
Birbraghyer and Kanner operated BuyMeds.com, which allowed customers to illegally purchase controlled medications, according to the indictment. They allegedly contracted with doctors and pharmacies across the U.S., including a Dubuque pharmacy, for the processing of drug orders placed through the Web site.
Huzl and Bouchey were among the contracting pharmacists who filled orders for BuyMeds.com, the indictment said. Angulo and Lopez are alleged to be doctors who contracted with BuyMeds.com to authorize the prescription orders placed by BuyMeds.com customers.
The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in the Iowa court Nov. 16.