Twin Cities Trio Indicted In Prescription Drug Fraud Conspiracy

Twin Cities Trio Indicted In Prescription Drug Fraud Conspiracy

A trio of Twin Cities men has found themselves entangled in a legal web, charged in a scheme aiming to score prescription drugs through hoodwinking the system, as the U.S. Attorney's Office revealed. Oscar Becerra-Ruiz, 21, Jasper William Johnson, 19, and Rayjaun Keon Varner, 23, have been indicted on conspiracy charges related to their fraudulent attempts to procure promethazine with codeine, a potent cough syrup concoction laced with the opioid codeine.

Details provided by a U.S. Attorney's Office's announcement, suggest a period of activity from around December 2022 to early August 2023 during which the accused employed paid online services to mine physician data, Johnson then used these data to breach the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Registrant Information Consolidated System, skirting its duty to guard against drug diversion from medical establishments to the streets.

Further accusations state how the defendants usurped physicians' identities, funneling their details into shady applications for customer accounts with pharmaceutical distributors, and proceeded to order substantial quantities of controlled substances using illicitly obtained prepaid debit cards and digital payment profiles. The collective effort led to a stash of orders for the ill-gotten pharmaceuticals, prompting a response from law enforcers.

While the investigation carries on and has yet to cast any light on patient data being mishandled, it's clear that the charges against Becerra-Ruiz, Johnson, and Varner are heavyweight, enveloping conspiracy, attempted drug acquisition by fraud, and for Johnson alone, a hefty tally of wire fraud, computer crime, and identity theft counts, as noted in the indictment document.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, bolstered by backup from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Secret Service, leads the ongoing probe into the affair, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren O. Roso and Allen A. Slaughter assigned the prosecutorial tasks.

SOURCE: hoodline