Two pharmacists accused of selling nearly 10 million addictive painkillers illegally over the Internet were portrayed yesterday by a federal prosecutor as having been involved in "a monster of a conspiracy" and by defense attorneys as merely taking advantage of the vast reach of cyberspace to succeed in a legitimate business.
The two men, Steven Abiodun Sodipo, 51, of Forest Hill and Callixtus Onigbo Nwaehiri, 48, of Jarrettsville, were indicted in September on charges of dispensing hydrocodone - which commonly sells as Vicodin - under bogus prescriptions to clients all over the country from their Baltimore pharmacy, Newcare Home Health Service. At least two customers died after suffering overdoses, prosecutors said.
The pharmacists were charged also with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, laundering money and tax violations. A third man, Ahmed Alhaji Abdulrazaaq of Forest Hill, was charged with conspiracy to defraud the IRS and is to be tried separately.
In opening statements yesterday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Smith told jurors in Baltimore's federal court that Sodipo and Nwaehiri, both licensed pharmacists, "turned their backs on their professional responsibilities" by embarking on what they should have known were illegal Internet drug sales.
"They were no different than pushers," Smith said of the defendants, who, if convicted, could receive sentences of between five years and life in prison. "To knowingly fill an invalid prescription is a crime."
Sodipo and Nwaehiri owned and operated Newcare in the 3400 block of Sinclair Lane, a business they founded in 1993 that initially specialized in delivering medications and medical supplies to nursing homes and other assisted-care living facilities. There was no walk-in service as in traditional, drugstore-based pharmacies.
Smith told the jury that the defendants also operated a real-estate development and custom-building entity and hoped to expand that and the pharmacy operation to their native Nigeria and other African nations.
"What happened? They got greedy," the prosecutor said. "It's the oldest story in America."
In 2004, according to a 15-count indictment, the two men began to participate in a nationwide conspiracy to illegally sell hydrocodone to any customer with a valid credit card, even to those they knew were addicts.
