NORFOLK, Va. — A local woman was sentenced in Norfolk court Wednesday to just over three years in prison for her part in a large oxycodone drug ring in Hampton Roads.
Quanisha Platt will also serve three years of supervised release. Platt also had five counts against her dismissed in court Wednesday
Court documents said from February to September 2017, Deonte Farrow and Quentia Fields led a conspiracy to get Oxycodone pills from various pharmacies in the Hampton Roads area to sell on the streets for a profit.
Farrow and Fields manufactured and drafted prescriptions for Oxycodone pills from their home computers and printers, using the name and DEA registration numbers of real physicians, without the physician’s knowledge.
Farrow and Fields then worked with Harvey Williams, Lucion Liles and Platt to recruit people to serve as runners, such as Tynasia Smith, Travis Smith, Juan Ramirez, and Tykeiah Benn.
They would take the prescriptions to various pharmacies in the Tidewater area to be filled. Platt, who had worked in several pharmacies, knew how to draft a prescription so that it looked legitimate to a pharmacy. The runners either were paid in money or given a quantity of the Oxycodone pills for their services.
The listed patient on the written prescriptions were either the name of a co-conspirator or the name of some other real person, sometimes without that person’s knowledge. In total, approximately 20 physicians’ names and DEA registration numbers were used on the fraudulent prescriptions without the doctor’s knowledge, the Department of Justice said.
The investigation was conducted by the Richmond Tactical Diversion Squad, in cooperation with the Chesapeake, Norfolk and Virginia Beach Police Departments.
By making arrest in this case, investigators were able to ensure that thousands of diverted pharmaceutical drugs are not being released on the streets of Hampton Roads.
Related link:
Operation Chasing Oxy busts large Oxycodone ring in Hampton Roads
