Hattiesburg man Terry O’neal Grant, 30, is headed to federal prison after pleading guilty to a two-count prescription drug fraud scheme that spanned multiple pharmacies in Lamar County, Mississippi. Grant was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden to 16 months in federal prison, followed by one year of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $3,000 fine.
According to court documents, on November 10, 2015, Grant walked into John’s Discount Pharmacy in Lamar County and submitted a fraudulent prescription for 120 dosage units of oxycodone under his mother’s name. He picked up the pills himself. Six days later, on November 16, 2015, he repeated the act—this time using his sister’s identity at the Target CVS Pharmacy, again securing 120 oxycodone units with a fake script.
Grant admitted to investigators he orchestrated the scam by asking an employee at Gulf Oaks Mental Health Clinic to write the phony prescriptions. But it didn’t stop there. He enlisted numerous other people to obtain controlled substances on his behalf, building a network of proxies to feed a growing opioid operation. Eleven others were indicted alongside Grant in connection with the scheme; ten have already pled guilty.
The case crackled with federal heat from the start. In 2017, Grant was already on federal probation for a prior conviction when he was arrested in this fraud case. On August 15, 2017, U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett revoked his probation and slammed him with a 37-month sentence and three years supervised release. The new 16-month term will run consecutive to that prior sentence—piling punishment on top of punishment.
The investigation was led by the DEA Tactical Diversion Squad and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, agencies cracking down on the underground flow of prescription narcotics across the Gulf Coast. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathlyn R. Van Buskirk, who painted Grant as a repeat offender exploiting family ties and medical systems to traffic powerful painkillers.
With oxycodone still a driver in the nation’s opioid crisis, cases like Grant’s expose how easily prescription systems can be hijacked. Federal authorities say they’re watching—especially when fraudsters like Grant, 30, of Hattiesburg, start building pill mills on the backs of fake prescriptions and real human pain.
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Key Facts
- State: Mississippi
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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