Pharmacist Pleads Guilty to Role in Oxycodone Pill Mill

A Dallas pharmacist pleaded guilty last week for her involvement in a pill mill operation that partially ran out of her pharmacy. Ndufola Kigham owned, operated, and served as a registered pharmacist at GenPharm Pharmacy in Desoto, Texas, while illicitly dispensing controlled substances as part of a drug distribution conspiracy.

According to a DEA press release, several individuals conspired to distribute 30-mg oxycodone in a scheme that ran from January 2013 to August 2014. Instead of notifying the authorities about the conspiracy, Kigham attempted to conceal the illicit acts by filling the prescriptions written for multiple different individuals and dispensing them to a single individual not named on the prescription. She distributed more than 70,000 30-mg oxycodone pills throughout the scheme.

In February 2015, 23 individuals, including pharmacist Kumi Frimpong and physician Richard Andrews, MD, were indicted on offenses related to their involvement. According to the indictment, the participants of the scheme illegally obtained prescriptions for controlled substances, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, and resold the pills for profit. The defendants recruited a number of individuals, many of whom were homeless, to pose as patients at medical clinics such as McAllen Medical Clinic and obtain prescriptions for pain medications.

Kigham pleaded guilty to 2 counts of misprision of felony and faces a maximum statutory penalty of 3 years in federal prison. She has also agreed to pay $9500 in fines.

Dr. Andrews pleaded guilty in January 2016 to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and 1 count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. He faces a penalty of at least 48 months but not more than 96 months in federal prison.

Frimpong pleaded guilty in September 2016 to one count of conspiracy to illegally distribute oxycodone, and has also agreed to pay $41,112 to the United States. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years.

A total of 31 individuals have been charged for their participation in the pill mill conspiracy, and 11 have been sentenced.

Reference

Owner/Operator of GenPharm Pharmacy in Dallas Area Pleads Guilty [news release]. Texas. DEA’s website. https://www.dea.gov/divisions/dal/2017/dal020317.shtml. Accessed Feb. 6, 2017.