PR Man Faces 10 Years for Role in Chinese Counterfeit Drug Distribution Scheme
A Puerto Rican man faces up to 10 years in prison after being found guilty by a jury on federal charges stemming from his role as a key operative for a drug ring that distributed large quantities of Chinese-made counterfeit pharmaceuticals throughout the U.S. and worldwide, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Francis Ortiz Gonzalez was convicted on one count of conspiracy and seven counts of trafficking in counterfeit pharmaceuticals. The indictment alleges Ortiz Gonzalez acted as U.S.-based distributor for a criminal enterprise, allegedly headed by Bo Jiang, a Chinese national whose last known residence is New Zealand. In January 2011, Jiang was taken into custody on a provisional arrest warrant by authorities in New Zealand, ICE said, but fled shortly after being released on bond.
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In 2009, special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs executed a federal search warrant at Ortiz Gonzalez's residence in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, a suburb of San Juan. Inside the home, investigators found more than 100,000 pills made to resemble a variety of popular prescription medications, ICE said, including Viagra, Cialis, Valium, Xanax and Lipitor. According to ICE, The ensuing investigation revealed that Ortiz Gonzalez had packaged and shipped more than 160,000 counterfeit tablets during a six-month period in 2009 while working for the organization. Many of those shipments were mailed to Southern California.
According to the indictment, Jiang advertised the counterfeit medications over the Internet. As part of the scheme, he allegedly recruited individuals from around the world to act as distributors for the products, ICE said. The U.S.-based distributors, including Ortiz Gonzalez, were responsible for receiving the parcels of counterfeit pharmaceuticals from China, then repacking and shipping them to fill individual customer's orders throughout the U.S.