The U.S. Department of Justice said this week that a pharmacist with a practice in Madera was given more than seven years in jail for selling opioids for cash.
Prosecutors said Monday in a news release that 49-year-old Ifeanyi Vincent Ntukogu of Fresno pleaded guilty in June to giving away more than 450,000 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills based on fake scripts.
According to U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert, this offender showed a clear lack of concern for law and public safety.
Ntukogu ran the New Life Pharmacy in Madera, but it closed down after he was caught. His lawyer could not be reached right away for comment.
According to the authorities, the scheme used fake prescriptions from more than 10 other doctors as part of a plan with Kelo White and Donald Pierre.
Prosecutors say Ntukogu looked over every prescription from December 2014 to November 2018 and turned down the ones he thought regulators would find questionable.
Prosecutors say that he wanted cash from White and Pierre, who were with him and sold the pills illegally in Tennessee, Texas, and other places.
The DOJ says Pierre was found guilty and given a sentence of nine years and four months in jail.
White will be given his sentence on February 24. He could spend up to 20 years in jail and pay a fine of $250,000.
