Final Defendant Sentenced in Operation Chasing Oxy

NORFOLK, Va. – A Norfolk man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for his leadership role in a nine-member conspiracy to fraudulently obtain and sell approximately 9,000 Oxycodone pills in Hampton Roads.

According to court documents, from February to September 2017, Deonte Farrow, who was sentenced today to 10 years, and Quentia Fields led a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain Oxycodone pills from various pharmacies in the Hampton Roads area for the purpose of selling the pills on the streets for a profit. Farrow and Fields manufactured and drafted prescriptions for Oxycodone pills from their home computers and printers, using the name and DEA registration numbers of real physicians, without the physician’s knowledge. Farrow and Fields then worked with co-conspirators, Harvey Williams, Lucion Liles and Quanisha Platt, to recruit individuals to serve as runners, such as Tynasia Smith, Travis Smith, Juan Ramirez, and Tykeiah Benn, who would take the prescriptions to various pharmacies in the Tidewater area to be filled. Platt, who had worked in several pharmacies, knew how to draft a prescription so that it looked legitimate to a pharmacy. The runners either were paid in money or given a quantity of the Oxycodone pills for their services. The listed patient on the written prescriptions were either the name of a co-conspirator or the name of some other real person, sometimes without that person’s knowledge. In total, approximately 20 physicians’ names and DEA registration numbers were used on the fraudulent prescriptions without the doctor’s knowledge.

This investigation was conducted by the Richmond Tactical Diversion Squad, in cooperation with the Chesapeake, Norfolk and Virginia Beach Police Departments, and the Virginia State Police.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Scott W. Hoernke, Acting Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division], made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Muhr prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-15-1.