Florida-Based Veterinary Supply Company Pleads Guilty to Illegal Distribution of Xylazine; Sentenced to Forfeiture of More Than $748,000

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that All Veterinary Supply, Inc. (AVS) of Doral, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of introduction and delivery of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce and was sentenced by United States District Judge Mark A. Kearney to three years of probation, an $18,000 fine, and forfeiture of $748,507.25, the company’s approximate gross profit from the illicit sales.

AVS was charged by information in August of last year, arising from its illegal distribution of xylazine outside the scope of its state permit, which did not permit the company to sell drugs to other wholesalers.

While xylazine was only approved for veterinary use in the United States, it was increasingly found in the illegal drug supply and linked to overdose deaths. The drug, colloquially known as “tranq,” is particularly dangerous when combined with fentanyl, but even on its own has harmful side effects, including soft tissue necrosis for users who inject the drug.

As detailed in the government’s court filings, AVS sold approximately 180,993 bottles to its two primary wholesaling customers in Puerto Rico, in violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, including xylazine that ultimately ended up in the illicit drug supply in Philadelphia.

This case was investigated by the Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations, with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony D. Scicchitano and Bryan C. Hughes, with Department of Justice Trial Attorneys Steven R. Scott and Brett Ruff of the Civil Division’s Enforcement & Affirmative Litigation Branch, former DOJ Trial Attorney Michael Wadden, and EDPA contract investigator Michael Sullivan.