Hyattsville Man Sentenced For Selling Misbranded Prescription And Non-Prescription Drugs

Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. sentenced Luis Alberto Jimenez, age 33, formerly of Hyattsville, Maryland, today to 10 months incarceration, with five months of that being home detention with electronic monitoring, followed by two years of supervised release, for selling misbranded, non-FDA approved prescription and non-prescription drugs. Judge Williams also ordered Jiminez to pay a $3,000 fine.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Brisolari of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Washington Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Antoinette V. Henry of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations; and Chief Mark A. Magaw of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

“The FDA - Office of Criminal Investigations is committed to working with the DEA and Prince George’s County Police Department to ensure the public is not endangered by pseudo medical practitioners dispensing and administering unapproved medications,” said Special Agent in Charge Antoinette V. Henry of the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, Metro Washington Field Office.

According to his plea agreement, from 2007 to March 27, 2012, Jimenez purchased misbranded prescription and nonprescription drugs from conspirators who brought the drugs into the United States from El Salvador and elsewhere, and then sold the drugs from his residence. Jimenez is not a doctor licensed to administer prescription drugs, nor a pharmacist, and the drugs Jimenez sold had not been approved by the FDA.

Twice in 2012, Jimenez sold misbranded prescription and nonprescription drugs to an undercover law enforcement agent. According to court documents and testimony at today’s hearing, the undercover agent told Jimenez that she was pregnant and had a history of blood clots. Jimenez provided her medications such as Nomagest, even telling her it would help her blood clots. Nomagest cannot be legally sold in the U.S., can harm unborn babies, and in fact can increase the risk of blood clots. Pregnant woman and individuals with blood clots are warned not to take the active ingredient, Estradiol, found in Nomagest.

Agents executed a search warrant at Jimenez’s residence and seized more than $19,000 worth of prescription and nonprescription drugs, along with documents showing purchases and sales of over $30,000.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the DEA, FDA - Office of Criminal Investigations and Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann O’Brien, assigned from the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, who prosecuted the case.

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