FOUR PENSACOLA WOMEN PLEAD GUILTY TO ILLEGAL DRUG DIVERSION

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Alexandra M. Christensen, 31, Lindsay N. McCray (also known as Lindsay Rogers), 42, Heather T. Bradley (also known as Heather Thomas), 37, and Jennifer E. Purves, 39, all of Pensacola, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges in connection with the unlawful diversion of controlled substances. The pleas were announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

Christensen and McCray were charged with and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and dispense oxycodone and hydrocodone. McCray, Bradley, and Purves were charged with and pleaded guilty to distribution of amphetamine. McCray was further charged with and pleaded guilty to identity theft in connection with a scheme to unlawfully divert controlled substances.

U.S. Attorney Heekin said: “The opioid epidemic has plagued our communities with addiction and death for years as criminal offenders like these defendants flooded our streets with drugs.  Now, thanks to the close collaboration between our state and federal law enforcement partners, this illegal drug diversion scheme has been dismantled and these offenders will be held accountable.”

According to court records, between 2015 and 2024, McCray, while employed by a medical practice, forged controlled substance prescriptions using the names, signatures, and Drug Enforcement Administration registration numbers of the practice’s two physicians without their knowledge or authorization. McCray issued these fraudulent prescriptions using the names and identifiers of people who were not actual patients of the clinic, had never seen either of the physicians, and in many instances were fictitious. The controlled substance pills were dispensed by area pharmacies, picked up by Christensen and others, and unlawfully sold for shared profit. As a result of the conspiracy, McCray, Christensen, and others caused to be unlawfully distributed and dispensed over 300,000 hydrocodone pills and over 30,000 oxycodone pills. McCray further coordinated with Bradley and Purves to distribute amphetamine in the form of Adderall pills or its generic equivalent. On multiple occasions each, Bradley and Purves obtained and filled prescriptions in their own and others’ names to unlawfully distribute for profit to a third party, payments for which passed through McCray.

Sentencing hearings are scheduled before United States District Judge T. Kent Wetherell, II on December 11, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. for Purves; on December 18, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. for McCray and at 2:00 p.m. for Christensen; and on January 15, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. for Bradley.

The pleas were the result of a joint investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Diversion Control Division, with assistance from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alicia H. Forbes.

The charges in this case were part of the Department of Justice’s 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown. All the cases were part of a strategically coordinated, nationwide law enforcement action that resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud and illegal drug diversion schemes that involved the submission of over $14.6 billion in intended loss and over 15 million pills of illegally diverted controlled substances.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General.  To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.