Hattiesburg Man Sentenced for Prescription Drug Fraud

Gulfport, Miss. – Terry O’neal Grant, 30, of Hattiesburg, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden to 16 months in federal prison followed by one year of supervised release for two counts of prescription fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam. Grant was also ordered to pay a $3,000 fine.

On October 18, 2017, Grant pled guilty to providing a fraudulent prescription for 120 dosage units of oxycodone on November 10, 2015, in his mother’s name, to John’s Discount Pharmacy in Lamar County. He brought the prescription to the pharmacy and picked it up. Grant also pled guilty to providing the Target CVS Pharmacy in Lamar County with another fraudulent prescription on November 16, 2015, in his sister’s name, for 120 dosage units of oxycodone. He admitted to asking an employee of Gulf Oaks Mental Health Clinic to write the fraudulent prescriptions. At his request, Grant had numerous other individuals obtain prescriptions for him. Eleven other individuals were indicted with Grant, and ten of them have since pled guilty.

In 2017, Grant was also on federal probation for a previous sentence. He was revoked by Judge Keith Starrett on August 15, 2017, for his arrest involving the prescription fraud case. He was sentenced to 37 months imprisonment and 3 years of supervised release. The sentence imposed by Judge Ozerden will run consecutive to the sentence imposed by Judge Starrett.

The case was investigated by the DEA Tactical Diversion Squad and Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathlyn R. Van Buskirk.