Nurse Practioner Pleads Guilty To Drug Charges

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:         (716) 843-5817
FAX:            (716) 551-3051

BUFFALO, N.Y.-Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Brandon Coburn, 34, of West Seneca, NY, pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute fentanyl, before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Adler, who is handling the case, stated that between July 2013 and May 2015, Coburn, a licensed nurse practitioner who was legally authorized to prescribe controlled substances, provided fraudulent fentanyl, oxycodone, oxymorphone, and amphetamine prescriptions to ten co-defendants. Those prescriptions were not used for legitimate medical purposes and instead were filled by the co-defendants and sold on the street in the Buffalo area. Coburn issued a total of 253 prescriptions without any legitimate medical purpose. 

To date, five defendants charged in this investigation have been convicted. The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Today’s plea is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of James J. Hunt, Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Field Division.

Coburn is scheduled to be sentenced on August 23, 2017, at 12:30 p.m. before Judge Arcara.