St. Albans woman pleads guilty to conspiracy to obtain pain pills by fraud

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A St. Albans woman pleaded guilty today to a federal drug crime, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Luci Jane McCormick, 39, entered her guilty plea to conspiracy to obtain controlled substances by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, and subterfuge. 

McCormick admitted that between April 12, 2015, and May 7, 2015, she and a codefendant recruited other individuals to fraudulently obtain pain pills. The recruited individuals were directed by McCormick or the codefendant to go to pharmacies in the Kanawha County area to obtain oxycodone and Xanax by presenting fraudulent and forged prescriptions to the pharmacies. The recruited individuals would be paid cash to fill the fraudulent prescription or allowed to keep a small amount of the pain pills fraudulently obtained. The remaining pills were returned to McCormick and the codefendant.     

McCormick faces up to four years in federal prison when she is sentenced on February 16, 2017.

The case against McCormick was investigated by the Dunbar Police Department, the South Charleston Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant United States Attorney Timothy D. Boggess is in charge of the prosecution. The plea hearing was held before United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston.

This case was prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.

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