Gastonia pharmacist sentenced for selling more than 1,500 oxycodone pills without a prescription

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Cole Dixon Moore was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison for illegally distributing oxycodone pills.

Oxycodone on the streets has ruined lives and communities. A licensed pharmacist should not be supplying street dealers and making the problem worse. I am proud of the work of my office in investigating this case, even without all the reporting required by pharmacies.
U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson

According to documents filed with the court, Moore was a licensed pharmacist working at
Prescription Plus pharmacy in Gastonia. Law enforcement initiated an investigation into Moore
after receiving information that he was selling large quantities of the sedative alprazolam, as well
as quantities of the highly addictive and commonly abused narcotic pain medication oxycodone,
to a pharmacy customer who did not have a prescription for the drugs.

Court documents show that Moore was aware the customer was reselling these pills on the street and, at times, even suggested the price the customer should charge per pill. Investigators also determined that Moore routinely demanded a cut of the customer’s sales, specifically, that Moore had an arrangement with the customer where the customer would pay a portion of the cost of the pills to Moore up front and then pay the balance owed once the drugs were sold.

Moore admitted to stealing the pills that he sold from the pharmacy’s stock supply. During the investigation, law enforcement recovered at least 1,500 oxycodone and alprazolam pills that Moore had sold to the customer without a prescription.

According to court records, Moore made over $20,000 selling the prescription pills over the course of a few months.

During his pronouncement of Moore’s sentence, U.S. District Judge David C. Norton cited the
well-known devastation caused by the plague of oxycodone in this country.

In addition to the prison term imposed, Judge Norton ordered Moore to a term of supervised
release. Moore has also forfeited approximately $20,000 in proceeds.

In February, Prescriptions Plus agreed to pay $204,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the
recordkeeping requirements of the Controlled Substances Act by failing to adequately monitor the conduct of its staff pharmacist and failing to keep complete and accurate records regarding the receipt and distribution of controlled substances, which negligently enabled the illegal
distribution of oxycodone and alprazolam by its staff pharmacist.

The DEA and the Gastonia Police Department investigated the case.