Former Barboursville Pharmacy operator sentenced for federal banking crimes

Former A+ Care Pharmacy Sentenced to 64 Months in Federal Prison and Forfeited $2.3 Million and a Lexus

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that Kofi Ohene Agyekum, 37, former owner and operator of A+ Care Pharmacy in Barboursville, West Virginia, was sentenced in federal court in Huntington today to five years and four months in federal prison for violating federal banking laws.  Federal banking laws aimed at identifying criminal activity, including drug crimes and terrorism, require financial institutions to report cash transactions of more than $10,000 to federal authorities.  Structuring, or dividing cash transactions into amounts less than $10,000, is a common technique used by criminals to avoid triggering the reporting requirements and the detection of the underlying crimes.

At his plea hearing in May 2015, Agyekum admitted that he deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash that he derived from his operation of A+ Care Pharmacy.  To avoid the federal reporting requirement, Agyekum admitted that he structured each deposit in an amount less than $10,000 and made the deposits in multiple bank accounts in various area banks, including Huntington National Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Chase Bank and First Sentry Bank.

At the sentencing hearing, the Court found that the money Agyekum used in the banking crimes was derived from the distribution of oxycodone from A+ Care Pharmacy, both with prescriptions that had every indicia of illegality and without any prescriptions at all.  The Court noted that these were very serious crimes that contributed to the oxycodone abuse epidemic and that Agyekum was driven by simple greed. 

Agyekum also agreed to forfeit to the United States more than $2.3 million plus a Lexus.

Chief United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers imposed today’s sentence.

This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team, the West Virginia State Police, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.  Assistant United States Attorney Monica D. Coleman is responsible for the prosecution.