Owner and Managing Physician at www.youronlinedoctor.com Sentenced in Charlotte, North Carolina
Defendants Previously Convicted on Drug Distribution Counts in Connection with Unlawful Prescription Drug Operation Associated with Woody Pharmacy

CHARLOTTE, NC—Kathleen Giacobbe, 47, of Lyndonville, Vermont, and Porfirio Orta-Rosario, 52, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, have been sentenced in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina for their roles in an unlawful prescription drug operation. Giacobbe was sentenced to more than six years (a total of 75 months) in federal prison. Orta-Rosario was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

The sentencing hearings, conducted on Tuesday, May 11, concluded a federal investigation of controlled substances distribution conspiracy in connection with an unlawful prescription drug operation based in the Western District of North Carolina at Woody Pharmacy locations in Mooresville, North Carolina. The federal indictment, filed in 2007, also charged Alvin Woody, 61, of Mooresville, NC in the same conspiracy in which powerful and addictive controlled substances were distributed to customers throughout the United States based on purported prescriptions faxed to Woody Pharmacy by www.youronlinedoctor.com, a Vermontbased website operated by Defendant Kathleen Giacobbe.

Today’s announcement is made by U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins of the Western District of North Carolina. Joining Tompkins in making today’s announcement is Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in North Carolina; Jeannine Hammett, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigations in North and South Carolina; and Rodney G. Benson, Special Agent in Charge of Drug Enforcement Administration, Atlanta Division. A federal indictment charging Alvin Woody, Kathleen Giacobbe, Porfirio Orta-Rosario, Stephen Giacobbe, and Christopher Otiko was initially filed in 2007 in U.S. District Court in Charlotte. In July 2008, Alvin Woody entered a guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and money laundering. Giacobbe was convicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and 38 separate counts of distributing controlled substances and Porfirio Orta-Rosario was convicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and 50 separate counts of distributing controlled substances at trial in August 2009. The trial, presided over by Chief U.S. District Judge, Robert J. Conrad, Jr., lasted seven days and the jury deliberated for two days. Three other employees of youronlinedoctor.com previously pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

According to the evidence presented at the trial, Giacobbe and Orta-Rosario conspired with one another and with others to distribute prescription painkillers and anti-anxiety medications, Schedule III and IV controlled substances, to customers throughout the country based on what were purported to be prescriptions that were faxed to Woody Pharmacy by www.youronlinedoctor.com. Trial testimony and evidence revealed that these purported prescriptions were, in fact, mere drug orders bearing a doctor’s photocopied signature based on a telephone “interview” with a customer, which was generally conducted by individuals with no training or authority to write prescriptions. Giacobbe’s online business faxed these purported prescriptions, according to evidence presented during the trial, to Woody Pharmacy in North Carolina, because it was a pharmacy which Giacobbe knew would not question the legitimacy of the purported prescriptions. Trial testimony and evidence established that this operation resulted in millions of dosage units of powerful and addictive controlled substances, primarily hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin) and alprazolam (e.g., Xanax), being distributed to thousands of customers nationwide out of Woody Pharmacy. On Tuesday, the court found that this unlawful operation contributed to the deaths of three former customers.

Chief U.S. District Judge Conrad pronounced the sentences of Giacobbe, and Orta-Rosario. The defendants remain free on bond and will be allowed to self report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of facility.

The prosecution was handled for the government by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melissa Rikard and Dana Washington of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.