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Thai woman sentenced for selling medicines
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A Thai woman who sold medicine to U.S. customers without requiring a prescription -- sometimes sending them in boxes labeled as gifts or even crayons -- was sentenced Thursday to time served for wire fraud, money laundering and introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce.
Duangthip Chutivaraporn, 33, has agreed to pay the government $2.1 million, reflecting the proceeds from the drug sales.
Chutivaraporn waived her right to fight removal from the country, and is expected to be deported promptly. She has been jailed since March.
Chutivaraporn ran the website www.eDrugnet.com and around 30 other medicine peddling Internet sites. The government has seized those sites.
Chutivaraporn's prosecution stemmed from a probe by the Food and Drug Administration, FBI, IRS and Department of Homeland Security. Undercover agents based in Western Pennsylvania, posing as bulk buyers, met her in Bangkok in 2011, then invited her to meet in New Orleans, where she was arrested.
First Published February 1, 2013 12:00 am
