Food and Drug Administration  Office of Criminal Investigations

	U.S. Department of Justice Press Release

For Immediate Release April 20, 2016	United States Department of Justice Western District of Virginia

 

 

ABINGDON, VIRGINIA – A Norfolk, Virginia man, who sold insulin on Craigslist to an undercover FDA agent, pled guilty today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon, United States John P. Fishwick Jr. announced.

 

Patrick Simanjuntak, 40, of Norfolk, Virginia, pled guilty today in District Court to one count of misbranding a drug and selling a drug outside of a legitimate supply chain. The defendant will be sentenced on August 1, 2016 at 2:30 p.m. in Abingdon, Virginia.  

 

“Prescription medications, such as insulin, are only safely administered under the care of a licensed physician,” United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. said today. “We will continue to work with our partners in law enforcement to maintain the integrity of our prescription drug supply.”

 

“U.S. consumers rely on FDA to ensure that their prescription drugs are safe and effective,” said Mark S. McCormack, Special Agent in Charge, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations’ Metro Washington Field Office.  “Our office will bring to justice those criminals who endanger unsuspecting consumers by purchasing and reselling these products outside the legitimate supply chain.”

 

According to evidence presented at previous hearings by Assistant United State Attorney Randy Ramseyer, in November 2015, the Food and Drug Administration [FDA], was advised that a person, later identified as the defendant, was advertising the sale of insulin on multiple Craigslist sites in the mid-Atlantic region. In these advertisements, Simanjuntak claimed the insulin had been obtained from medical facilities, specifically nursing homes.

 

On November 16, 2015, an undercover FDA agent contacted Simanjuntak at the telephone provided in the ads. Subsequent to this contact, the agent made five separate purchases of pre-filled insulin injection pens from the defendant. Cumulatively, between November 2015 and February 2016, FDA’s undercover agent purchased 17 boxes of pre-filled insulin pens, each box containing five pens, for which the agent paid a total of $1,870 to the defendant through Paypal. At no time during these transactions did Simanjuntak ask for, or require, the special agent to provide a valid prescription for the insulin. On two occasions, the agent received boxes of insulin from the defendant which still had affixed to them prescription labels for other patients.

 

Simanjuntak is neither a licensed medical professional nor licensed to distribute prescription medication. All the transactions between the defendant and the special agent were mailed from Norfolk to Abingdon, Virginia.                                                                                                     

 

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Randy Ramseyer prosecuted the case for the United States.

 

USAO - Virginia, Western

 

Topic: 

Prescription Drugs