Sister and Brother Drug Distribution Team Sentenced to Prison for Dealing Narcotic Pain Killers

            A brother and sister team has been sentenced to prison for their scheme to ship narcotics from the Los Angeles area for distribution in Seattle, announced U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan.  ROBIN BROWN, 52, of Los Angeles, California was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 62 months in prison and four years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.  BROWN’s brother, Terrell Brown, was sentenced last month to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in the drug distribution scheme.  At sentencing today U.S. District Judge James L. Robart noted the inherent danger of oxycodone abuse.

            According to records filed in the case, BROWN and her brother came to the attention of Postal Inspection Service Investigators when an alert postal employee reported numerous express mail packages being delivered to Terrell Brown’s Seattle apartment.  A records review showed more than 90 express mail packages sent from Los Angeles to the Seattle apartment in a one year period.  Apartment managers confirmed that Terrell Brown received multiple express mail packages each week and had just purchased a new Cadillac Escalade despite reporting little income.  In July 2012, investigators served a search warrant on a package destined for Brown and found 210 pills of 30 mg oxycodone.  Even as they were executing a search warrant on Terrell Brown’s apartment another package arrived with another 240 pills of oxycodone.

            ROBIN BROWN pleaded guilty on March 14, 2013.  Terrell Brown pleaded guilty on March 28, 2013.

            ROBIN BROWN has multiple prior criminal convictions in Washington and California.  In asking for a lengthy prison term for BROWN prosecutors noted that oxycodone abuse is a significant problem in the community. “Overdoses of oxycodone and other prescription opiates are a leading cause of death in King County…. In 2000, there were 13 deaths in King County from oxycodone overdoses.  That number increased steadily over the next nine years, with 60 deaths directly attributable to oxycodone in 2009.  Oxycodone was present (but not necessarily the sole cause) in 104 deaths in 2009, as opposed to just 26 in 2000,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

            The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin Arnold.