Two Florida Men Indicted in Scheme to Traffic in Stolen Pharmaceutical Drug

NEWARK, NJ—A federal grand jury today returned an Indictment against two Florida men who allegedly conspired to traffic in pharmaceutical drugs from a shipment, worth $8.8 million, stolen at a Georgia truck stop and driven to New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Amed Rey Parra, a/k/a “Flaco,” a/k/a “Pecadien,” 36; and Abimael Fuente, a/k/a “Abimael Fuentes Barrios,” a/k/a “Abimael Fuentes,” 31, both of Hialeah, Fla., were previously arrested on a Complaint charging them with conspiracy to receive and sell stolen goods. The two-count Indictment charges the conspiracy and adds a substantive count of the receipt and attempted sale of stolen goods.

According to the Indictment and other documents filed in this case:

Parra, Fuente and their co-conspirators trafficked in stolen pharmaceutical drugs from July 2009 through October 2009. In October 2009, Parra and his co-conspirators, Luis Andres Faife-Ruiz, Cesar Pereira, and David Topaz, negotiated the sale of a sanofi-aventis shipment stolen from a Georgia truck stop on July 9, 2009, to a buyer in New Jersey. The stolen shipment was driven from Florida to New Jersey on October 14, 2009, by Fuente and another coconspirator who then met with Parra and Faife-Ruiz at a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. Fuente then followed Faife-Ruiz’ car, and later that afternoon, a co-conspirator turned the stolen shipment over to the buyer for inspection. The FBI seized the stolen shipment before Parra, Fuente and their co-conspirators could complete the sale of the stolen pharmaceuticals, which included Xyzal, Nasacort AQ, Benzaclin Gel, and Lovenox.

The shipment of drugs had an estimated wholesale value of $8.8 million.

The conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The receipt and attempted sale of stolen property count carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Faife-Ruiz pleaded guilty in April 2011 to the same two counts, and awaits sentencing, currently scheduled for July 12, 2011, before U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh in Newark federal court. Pereira and Topaz pleaded guilty to both counts in November 2010 and are scheduled to be sentenced on August 8, 2011, also by Judge Cavanaugh.