James Wilson, a 56-year-old man, illegally sold prescriptions for opioid pain pills from a fraudulent clinic that he owned in Long Beach. In the events that led up to his arrest, Wilson, who is not a physician or a pharmacist, wrote and sold four prescriptions, each for 120 tablets of maximum-strength immediate-release oxycodone, to a confidential informant working with the DEA, who he thought was just another drug customer. In addition, law enforcement officials discovered 160 partially completed prescriptions, each for 120 pills, in Wilson’s car at the time of his arrest. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittney
Harris who told the court, “That would be 20,000 diverted oxycodone pills if the prescriptions had been sold and filled.” Wilson was eventually convicted of two federal counts of distribution of oxycodone. The judge initially handed Wilson a 51-month term, but shaved off a year due to his attendance at drug abuse counseling sessions and his successful effort to stay clean.
Wilson now has to serve 39 months in a federal facility followed by three years of supervised release after he serves his time.