Beginning in 2012, the Drug Enforcement Administration's New Haven Tactical Diversion Squad investigated a drug trafficking organization that manufactured fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone and distributed the drug in the greater New Haven area. Conspiracy members also purchased legitimate oxycodone prescriptions from individuals and used runners to fill the fraudulent prescriptions at pharmacies throughout Connecticut.
According to court documents and statements made in court, between February 2013 and September 2015 the organization stole the personal identifying information of more than 50 doctors and medical professionals and fraudulently obtained more than 80,000 oxycodone pills. Members then sold the oxycodone for $20 to $30 per 30 milligram pill.
In June 2016 a 32-year-old New Haven man pleaded guilty before a federal judge in Hartford to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone. Sentencing was scheduled for October 2016, when he faced a maximum term of 20 years in prison.
The case illustrates how prescription drug diversion can occur outside clinical settings through prescriber identity theft and forged paperwork. The investigating task force included officers from several Connecticut municipal police departments working alongside the DEA.