Buffalo Woman Pleads Guilty in Fentanyl Prescription Scam

Buffalo woman Johanna Sanchez Rodriquez, 40, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and obtain controlled substances through fraud, admitting her role in a two-year underground opioid pipeline that flooded the streets of Buffalo with fentanyl and oxycodone.

The federal charge, entered before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sanchez Rodriquez admitted to filling 31 fraudulent prescriptions written by co-defendant Brandon Coburn, a licensed nurse practitioner legally authorized to prescribe controlled substances.

Between December 2013 and April 2015, Coburn issued bogus fentanyl prescriptions to Sanchez Rodriquez and nine others—none for legitimate medical use. Instead, the drugs were funneled directly into the illicit market, sold on street corners and in neighborhoods already choking on the opioid crisis.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Adler, who is prosecuting the case, said the scheme exploited legal medical channels to traffic deadly narcotics. Sanchez Rodriquez became the first of the 11 defendants named in the indictment to be convicted, breaking the back of a network built on corruption and chemical dependency.

The investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration under Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Division. Authorities stress that while charges have been filed against the remaining defendants, they are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Sentencing for Johanna Sanchez Rodriquez is set for March 23, 2017, at 1:00 p.m. before Judge Arcara. The case underscores the growing federal crackdown on prescription fraud as a driver of America’s opioid epidemic.

RELATED: Texas Courier Admits to Cross-Country Coke Run

RELATED: Texas Courier Admits Role in Cross-Country Coke Pipeline