Family from Bealeton Arrested for Illegally Distributing Prescription Pain Medication
| U.S. Attorney’s Office June 05, 2012 |
ALEXANDRIA, VA—Three members of a family living together in Fauquier County, Virginia were arrested last week for allegedly conspiring to distribute prescription pain medication from their home since at least 2009.
Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Charlie Ray Fox, Jr., Fauquier County Sheriff, made the announcement.
According to court records, Vernon “Scotty” Carter, 55; his wife, Helen R. Carter, 50; and their son, Jason Vernon Carter, 29, allegedly conspired since 2009 to obtain Oxycodone and Oxymorphone prescribed to them from a local physician and sell them for a profit.
During the execution of a search warrant on their Bealeton, Virginia residence at the time of arrest, agents allegedly recovered more than a quarter pound of marijuana, as well as many and varied prescription pills stashed in kitchen drawers and other places around the house.
This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office as part of the Blue Ridge Drug and Gang Task Force, a multi-agency investigative team consisting of state and local law enforcement agencies working with Federal law enforcement, whose purpose is to disrupt and dismantle organizations involved in the illegal distribution of narcotics. Fauquier County has recorded 15 deaths between 2009 and 2010 related to prescription pill overdoses.
This case is part of an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation dubbed Operation Cotton Candy, which has been focusing on the illegal distribution by numerous doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and patients of pain medication. This OCDETF matter has secured more than 200 drug-trafficking convictions and guilty pleas.
Special Assistant United States Attorney Dylan Fallik is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
Criminal complaints are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.