Ndufola Kigham Pleads Guilty in Desoto Pill Mill Scheme

Arlington pharmacist Ndufola Kigham, 45, admitted in federal court today to turning a blind eye to a massive oxycodone trafficking ring operating out of her Desoto pharmacy. Kigham, who owned and operated GenPharm Pharmacy on Wheatland Road, pleaded guilty to two counts of misprision of a felony before U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater in Dallas. The charges stem from her role in a sprawling ‘pill mill’ conspiracy that flooded the Dallas area with 30mg oxycodone pills between January 2013 and August 2014.

Kigham admitted in court documents that she knowingly failed to report the illegal distribution scheme—and instead took deliberate steps to conceal it. She filled prescriptions for 30mg oxycodone written for multiple patients, then handed the drugs to a single individual not named on the scripts. Over the course of the conspiracy, she dispensed more than 70,000 high-dose oxycodone pills based on legitimate-looking prescriptions. For her silence and complicity, she now faces up to three years in federal prison on each count and has agreed to pay a $9,500 fine before sentencing on May 26, 2017.

The GenPharm operation was part of a broader network tied to the McAllen Medical Clinic on South Hampton in Dallas, run by Muhammad Faridi, 40, who is not a doctor but owned the clinic. Faridi pleaded guilty in August 2016 to conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and awaits sentencing in March 2017. The clinic was overseen by Dr. Richard Andrews, 64, of Dallas, a doctor of osteopathy who signed off on prescriptions. Andrews pleaded guilty in January 2016 to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and money laundering. He faces 48 to 96 months in prison and has agreed to never work in pain management or own a stake in such clinics again.

Another key player, Kumi Frimpong, 56, of Dallas, who ran Cornerstone Pharmacy in Desoto, pleaded guilty in September 2016 to conspiracy to illegally distribute oxycodone. He agreed to forfeit $41,112 in drug proceeds and faces up to 20 years in prison at his March 17, 2017 sentencing. Like Kigham, Frimpong filled suspicious prescriptions and enabled the flow of pills to street distributors.

Following their arrests in January 2016, Kigham, Frimpong, and Andrews were forced to surrender their Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration numbers, effectively shutting down their ability to handle controlled substances. Kigham also turned over the remaining stock of controlled drugs at GenPharm to federal agents. The DEA and FBI moved swiftly to dismantle the operation after a two-year investigation revealed the scale of the illicit network.

The case exploded in February 2015 when a federal grand jury indicted 23 people for their roles in the conspiracy, which prosecutors say ran from at least May 2013 through July 2014. Authorities described it as a well-oiled machine: fake patient visits, bulk oxycodone prescriptions, cash payments, and laundered profits. Now, with multiple guilty pleas secured, federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Texas, led by U.S. Attorney John Parker, are closing in on the final convictions in one of the region’s most brazen pill mill operations in recent years.