Pharmacist and Pharmacy Technician Charged in a $1.2 Million Illegal Opioid Distribution Conspiracy

An indictment was unsealed charging a pharmacist and a pharmacy technician with conspiracy to illegally distribute prescription drugs, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Saima Mohsin.

Mohsin was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge Keith Martin, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Detroit Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Timothy Waters, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Detroit Division; and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG).

Charged were Cosmos George, 46, of Southfield and Tarielle Dixon, 33, of Detroit.

According to the indictment, from September 2017 through June 2020, Cosmos George, a pharmacist working at the Village Script East Pharmacy located in Dearborn and Tarielle Dixon, a pharmacy technician working at the Nottingham Pharmacy located in Detroit, conspired with others to dispense a large number of prescription opioids for fictitious patients who did not have a legitimate medical need for the drugs.    Both George and Dixon dispensed addictive and highly diverted prescriptions for the same opioid distribution ring.

Over the course of the conspiracy, George and Dixon primarily dispensed oxycodone and oxymorphone, two of the most addictive opioids that have high black market resale values.

The indictment further alleges that the pharmacies dispensed more than 41,995 dosage units of Schedule II opioid prescriptions during the course of the conspiracy.  These controlled substances had a conservative street value in excess of $1,200,000.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mitra Jafary-Hariri and Brandy R. McMillion.  The Eastern District of Michigan is one of the twelve districts included in the Opioid Fraud Abuse and Detection Unit, a Department of Justice initiative, using data to target and prosecute individuals that are contributing to the nation’s opioid crisis.

If convicted of the charges, each face a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  Each defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.