Ringleader Sentenced to 10 Years for Oxycodone Conspiracy

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – William Delonta Granberry, 37, of Hughesville, Maryland, was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, to be followed by three-year term of supervised release.

Granberry pleaded guilty on February 10. According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Granberry acknowledged that beginning in or around 2010, and continuing until December 2015, he fabricated prescriptions of oxycodone utilizing legitimate prescription paper delivered to his residence. He also admitted to fabricating the prescribing information of legitimate physicians obtained from the website DEANumber.com, and using primarily fictitious patient names. Granberry then recruited a network of co-conspirators who used individuals called “runners” to fill these fraudulent prescriptions at various pharmacies.  After acquiring the fraudulently obtained oxycodone from his co-conspirators, Granberry distributed the oxycodone to other individuals for a high profit.  Since 2008, the criminal organization has fraudulently obtained approximately 130,000 oxycodone pills.  Eight other defendants have pleaded guilty and been sentenced as part of the investigation to date.

Five other defendants are awaiting sentencing: Sheila Coleman will be sentenced July 8; Dmitri Walls-White on July 22; Andre Granberry on August 12; James Powell on September 9, and; Roxanne Granberry on September 16.

This sentencing is the product of a multi-year, multi-jurisdictional, and multi-agency Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation designated “Operation Circuit Breaker.”  Operation Circuit Breaker focuses upon the illegal procurement and sale of prescription pain medication across the mid-Atlantic region. 

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; and Paul M. Abbate, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga.  Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul A. Hayden and Anna G. Kaminska, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi are prosecuting the case.

The U.S. Attorney thanked the Department of Defense–Office of the Inspector General, Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, Charles County Sheriff’s Office, Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, Virginia State Police, and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office for their assistance in this matter.

This case is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Circuit Breaker, which focuses on the illegal procurement and sale of prescription pain medication across the mid-Atlantic region.  The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:14-cr-284, 1:14-cr-340, 1:14-cr-389, 1:15-cr-29, 1:16-cr-16, 1:16-cr-26, and 1:16-cr-28.