Puerto Rico Man Faces 10 Years for Dealing Counterfeit Chinese Viagra & Cialis
A federal jury Thursday convicted a Puerto Rican man for trafficking in counterfeit pharmaceuticals, said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Luis Angel Garcia Torres, 41, of Patillas, Puerto Rico, used the Internet to import from China and distribute counterfeit Viagra and Cialis and offered to sell the Viagra and Cialis tablets, ICE said. The retail cost at the time for Viagra and Cialis ranged from $15 to about $20 per pill, said ICE, but Garcia Torres was selling them for $2 each after purchasing the tablets for $0.45 each. Garcia Torres faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a $2 million fine, ICE said.
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Undercover Homeland Security Investigations special agents purchased about 3,600 Viagra and Cialis tablets from Garcia Torres from Jan. 25, 2010 through Aug. 16, 2010, ICE said. According to ICE, the pharmaceuticals were exported from China and shipped from a Puerto Rico address used by Garcia Torres to the HSI special agents in Houston. The tablets were analyzed by the trademark holders and FDA's Forensic Chemistry Center, said ICE, and were determined to be counterfeit. Special agents also obtained a search warrant for the e-mail address used by Garcia Torres, said ICE, and proved that he had obtained the counterfeit pharmaceuticals from China and discussed with his Chinese suppliers techniques to evade detection and seizure by law enforcement officials.