September 10, 2014

Former Pikeville Pharmacy Manager Sentenced to 72 Months for Conspiring to Distribute Prescription Drugs

PIKEVILLE, KY—A federal Judge has sentenced a former Pikeville pharmacy manager to 72 months in prison for her role in a conspiracy to illegally dispense thousands of prescription pills.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar sentenced 60-year-old Beverly Lockhart, who worked at multiple Pikeville Pharmacies, for conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone. Under federal law, Lockhart must serve at least 85 percent of her prison sentence.

According to evidence presented at her trial earlier this year, Lockhart conspired with several co-defendants, from June 2006 to July 2011, to illegally dispense prescription drugs to Eastern Kentuckians. Lockhart’s co-defendants include two doctors, the corporation which owns the pharmacy where Lockhart worked, another pharmacy employee and six street-level dealers who obtained their pills from the pharmacies where Lockhart was employed. Dr. Linda Roos, who practiced medicine in Houston, Texas was sentenced to 72 months in December 2013 for her role and has permanently surrendered her license to practice medicine. All 11 defendants have been sentenced.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy; the Kentucky Office of Inspector General; Kentucky State Police and the Pikeville Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Gentry prosecuted this case on behalf of the federal government.