Grimy Times investigates the case of Larry Burstein, a 69-year-old man from Alachua, Florida, who was sentenced to 48 months in prison for operating an illegal internet pharmacy. Burstein’s operation sold over $7 million in prescription drugs without requiring customers to provide a prescription.
According to court documents, Burstein’s websites sold more than 148,000 pills containing codeine, a Schedule II opiate, between 2007 and 2014. An undercover DEA agent was able to order and receive codeine pills from Burstein’s websites on several occasions in 2012 and 2013 without providing a prescription.
Co-conspirator Edward Leonforte, 56, of Gainesville, pleaded guilty in September 2016 to conspiracy, distribution of the controlled substance codeine, and money laundering. Leonforte is scheduled to be sentenced on September 25, 2017, at 3:30 p.m.
The case resulted from a joint investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service—Criminal Investigation, with assistance from the Gainesville Police Department, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, the Alachua Police Department, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, the Ocala Police Department, the Florida Department of Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Larry Burstein was sentenced on [no specific date in the source] for his involvement in a drug conspiracy arising from his operation of a multi-million dollar internet pharmacy. The sentence was announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.
Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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