FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 9, 2012
FLORIDA MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL OXYCODONE DISTRIBUTION
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin today announced that a Florida man pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in an illegal oxycodone distribution scheme. Jason Corley Padgett, 35, of Tampa, Fla., admitted that he sold oxycodone to a confidential informant working at the direction of the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT) beginning in September 2010. Padgett further admitted that a few of the illegal pill transactions occurred in Florida, but most of the transactions involved the defendant shipping quantities of oxycodone to Winfield, W.Va.
Padgett also admitted that he provided the confidential informant with checking account information that the informant used to deposit money into an account, prior to receiving shipments of oxycodone from the defendant. According to his plea agreement, bank account records reveal more than $43,000 in cash deposits were made to the defendant’s account and 13 Federal Express packages were shipped from the defendant to the confidential informant between November 2010 and February 2011.
On April 6, 2011, MDENT agents and investigators from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) used a confidential informant to arrange a controlled purchase of 200 30-milligram oxycodone tablets from the defendant in Jacksonville, Fla. Padgett arrived at the prearranged location and was arrested. Officers seized a loaded .38 caliber revolver from the defendant’s rental vehicle as well as 234 oxycodone tablets.
Padgett faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced on October 9, 2012 by United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers.
This case was prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers in communities across the Southern District.
The Putnam County Sheriff's Department, the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team and the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Hanks is in charge of the prosecution.
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