Welling Man Sentenced To 16 Months, $7,750 For Multiple Controlled Substances Counts

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Ian Alexander Bowline, age 32, of Welling, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, 1 year of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $7,750.00 money judgment for 7 counts of OBTAINING A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE BY FRAUD, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 843(a)(3) and Title 18, United States Code, Section 2; 7 counts of USE OF A REGISTRATION NUMBER OF ANOTHER PERSON TO OBTAIN A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE BY FRAUD, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 843(a)(2) and Title 18, United States Code, Section 2; 1 count of ATTEMPTING TO OBTAIN A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE BY FRAUD, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 843(a)(3) and 846 and Title 18, United States Code, Section 2; and 1 count of  ATTEMPTING TO USE A REGISTRATION NUMBER OF ANOTHER PERSON TO OBTAIN A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE BY FRAUD, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 843(a)(2) and 846 and Title 18, United States Code, Section 2. The jury trial began on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 and concluded on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 with the guilty verdicts.

Beginning in or about 2010, and continuing until the date of the service of a search warrant at Bowline’s residence on May 7, 2013, Bowline led an organization aimed at obtaining Oxycodone by utilizing false prescriptions manufactured by Bowline and distributed to others who, in turn, presented the false prescriptions to pharmacies and obtained 90 to 120 count Oxycodone pills at 30 mg. dosages per pill.  The false prescriptions were generated by Bowline, contained valid DEA physician license numbers, and were printed on special watermark paper used by physicians when writing prescriptions.  Bowline obtained the DEA physician numbers and paper from the internet.

The false prescriptions were presented to pharmacies in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri.  The evidence presented at trial included items seized from a search of Bowline’s residence.  Agents seized a computer, laptop, and thumb-drives which contained approximately 80 blank prescriptions in a format used to produce and print the prescriptions.  Fifty-one of the prescriptions, resulting in a total of 6,030 Oxycodone pills, had been illegally passed at pharmacies within and outside Oklahoma.  Prosecutors also presented other false prescriptions that had been filled by various pharmacies and identified as being manufactured and signed by Bowline.  During the course of the trial, evidence was presented that Bowline was involved in the diversion of approximately 14,000 Oxycodone pills.  In all, 6 other defendants were sentenced as a result of the investigation into the Bowline organization.  Their sentences ranged from probation to 60 months imprisonment.

The verdicts obtained were the result of an investigation by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and was coordinated by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) of the Eastern District of Oklahoma.  OCDETF is an initiative led, and coordinated by, the Office of the United States Attorney.

United States Attorney Brian J. Kuester said, “The OBN investigators and assistant United States Attorneys worked diligently on this investigation and prosecution for years. I commend them for their efforts to put an end to the scheme by this Defendant and others to fraudulently obtain large quantities of opioids. This office, as well as our federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners are committed to enforcing the laws that we have to combat the abuse of opioids.”

The Honorable James H. Payne, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, presided over the sentencing hearing and jury trial.

Assistant United States Attorneys Shannon Henson and John David Luton represented the United States.