Jefferson County And Bullitt County Residents Guilty In Conspiracy To Distribute Oxycodone

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Two more defendants charged in a conspiracy to distribute oxycodone in Jefferson County and Bullitt County, Kentucky pleaded guilty in United States District Court this week announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. Teresa Sandlin, age 49, and Jerry Sandlin, age 43, both from Louisville, entered guilty pleas before U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II, on January 7, 2013.

According to information provided in multiple plea agreements, between January 2009 and February 2012 the ten defendants traveled to a minimum of one pain clinic in Florida and obtained prescriptions for oxycodone and/or oxycodone tablets and returned with the ill-gotten medications to the Western District of Kentucky where they distributed, individually, between 5.13 and 19.23 grams of the prescription pain medication.

"The illicit sale of prescription pain medications is one of the greatest health and safety threats to our families and our communities,” stated U.S. Attorney David J. Hale. “Fighting the scourge of illicit prescription drugs is a priority of my office, and I applaud the efforts of the Drug Enforcement Administration and our state and local partners for their efforts in pursuing Kentucky drug dealers and shutting down the source of their supply.”

All ten defendants were charged with a single count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance in a federal grand jury indictment returned on June 22, 2011. Between May 7, 2012 and January 7, 2012 all but one of the ten defendants has entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court. Two defendants were charged in a second count with money laundering. Those charged along with Teresa Sandlin and Jerry Sandlin were Mark Wolfe, 30 of Louisville; Steven Breeding, 26 of Bullitt County; Whitney Summitt, 22 of Louisville; Crystal Summitt, 30 of Louisville; Robert Randolph, 34 of Louisville; Michael Johnston, 34 of Louisville; Bobbie Maddox, 50 of Louisville; and Tylena Randolph, 58 of Louisville. Randolph entered a not guilty plea and has a status conference scheduled in March before Judge Heyburn.

According to the investigation by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents working in Louisville and the Southern District of Florida, the prescriptions were obtained from so called pain clinics located in Broward and Palm Beach counties. In August, 2011 a grand jury charged 32 defendants, associated with these pain clinics, with operating “pill mills.” (USA v. George et al.) All but four of the defendants have entered guilty pleas and the clinics were closed.

Teresa Sandlin and Bobbie Maddox plead guilty to a separate charge of money laundering for conspiring to conduct an unlawful financial transaction between December, 2009 and January, 2010. According to the plea agreement, Sandlin and Maddox took approximately $75,000.00 in U.S. currency, which were proceeds from count one’s drug trafficking charge, from Louisville, Kentucky to Jeffersonville, Indiana and presented it as a partial payment at the closing for the purchase of property in Shepherdsville, located in Bullitt County, Kentucky. Sandlin and Maddox presented a fraudulent gift letter which stated that Glenn Dovak, alleged to be Maddox’s uncle, had given Maddox the $75,000.00 in U.S. currency as a gift. The fraudulent gift letter was dated as being signed on January 5, 2010, but death records show Dovak had died on February 22, 2007.

At sentencing the defendants face a maximum 20 year term in prison, a maximum fine of one million dollars and supervised release of at least three years and up to any number of years, including life. Maddox and Teresa Sandlin face an addition 20 year term in prison and an additional $500,000.00 dollar fine for count two of the federal indictment.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Hall and is being investigated by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

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