Feds Crack Down on Illicit Prescription Drug Sales

By Megan Breckenridge, Staff Writer

SULLO & SULLO, LLP

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HOUSTON—Pharmacies in Illinois and Utah stand accused of illicit prescription drug sales over the Internet, according to court papers filed by federal agents in two U.S. cities.

Search warrant affidavits allege that both pharmacies, one in Des Plaines, Illinois, and the other in American Fork, Utah, are owned by the same man, Kyle Rootsaert. The company in Des Plaines, now called Rand Pharmacy, combined with another unidentified online pharmacy shipped 30,000 packages of prescription drugs across the country during the first six months of 2010.

"This is a pretty large ring of at least 200 websites that acted as internet pharmacies that were basically selling drugs—prescription drugs—without requiring a valid prescription," John Horton, a former official in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in an interview with CNN. "These affidavits indicate this was a multiyear, multimillion-dollar operation involving thousands and thousands of prescriptions. Going back in time, there were even deaths involved with this organization."

According to the court documents, the majority of the drugs were highly addictive, especially the muscle relaxants Soma and Tramadol. And the same physician, Dr. William E. Morrow of Layton, Utah, authorized most of the prescriptions without ever having seen or talked to any of the people ordering the drugs.

In 1999, Morrow lost his right to dispense controlled drugs for three years because he did not follow proper prescription procedures, Utah records show. He was also fined $1,000, but regained his right to prescribe controlled medications in 2002. His right to practice medicine was never taken away.

Federal agents bought drugs from the online pharmacies between 2008 and April 2010 without a prescription, the affidavits say. The pills were delivered within a day or two, and dozens of follow-up emails were sent encouraging the agents to purchase more drugs. Also in 2008, a correspondent for CNN’s Special Investigation’s Unit was able to obtain the antidepressant Prozac without a prescription from the accused pharmacies.

There are countless reasons to be cautious when ordering medications online, including the sale of altered drug formulations, and expired or counterfeit products. To be sure that you are getting your medication from a reputable source, it is best to visit a licensed brick and mortar pharmacy or use an online pharmacy that has been certified by the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) program at legitscript.com.

If you or someone you know has been harmed by pharmaceutical drugs, contact the experienced team at Sullo & Sullo, LLP. Call us at 713.839.9026 or visit our website at www.sullolaw.com for a free legal consultation today.

Drug Violence in Mexico Spills Into U.S

By Megan Breckenridge, Staff Writer
SULLO & SULLO, LLP
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HOUSTON—Although Mexico has long been a source of production and transit for illegal drugs, the country now finds itself embattled with powerful and well-financed drug cartels. An upsurge in drug-related violence can be traced to the end of 2006 when President Felipe Calderón launched an aggressive assault on drug trafficking organizations by deploying tens of thousands of federal police and soldiers to reign them in. But his initiative has been largely unsuccessful to date, and there is a rising chorus of voices on both sides of the border questioning the cost and fallout of the attack on the cartels.

Given its geographic location, Mexico has been used as a staging and transshipment point for narcotics, illegal immigrants and other contraband destined for U.S. markets from Mexico, South America and elsewhere for decades. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Colombia’s Pablo Escobar was the main exporter of cocaine and dealt with organized criminal networks all over the world. When enforcement efforts intensified in South Florida and the Caribbean, the Colombian organizations formed partnerships with Mexico-based traffickers to transport cocaine through Mexico into the United States.

These new allegiances flourished, since Mexico had long been a major source of heroin and cannabis and possessed an infrastructure that stood ready to serve the Colombia-based traffickers. At first, the Mexican gangs were paid in cash for their transport services, but in the late 1980s, a settlement was reached wherein they would be compensated in product. Payment was usually 35 to 50 percent of each cocaine shipment, which meant that organizations from Mexico became involved in distribution as well as transportation, and quickly morphed into formidable traffickers in their own right.

With the demise of Colombia’s Cali and Medellín cartels in the 1990s, Mexican gangs stepped up to dominate the wholesale illicit drug market in the United States. Arrests and deaths of key leaders in recent years have led to increasing violence as rival cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the U.S. Amid this continuous power struggle, gang leaders often attempt to use law enforcement to their benefit, either by bribing Mexican officials to take certain action against an opponent, or by leaking intelligence about a rival’s operations to the Mexican government or the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

There is also mounting evidence of corruption amid border security and law enforcement officers, with suspicions being raised about agencies on both sides of the border.

To many Mexicans, the rising count of gruesome drug-related murders is evidence that the government’s strategy to combat the cartels has failed.

Current estimates put the death toll at close to 23,000 since Calderón took office in December 2006, with numbers increasing exponentially each year.

The government insists that the majority of those killed in Mexico’s drug violence were involved in the narcotics trade. But a growing number of bystanders are dying in the crossfire, and Americans are among them.

Tania Lozoya, 15, of El Paso, Texas, was killed by a stray bullet at her Aunt’s house across the border in Ciudad Juárez in May 2009, after gunfire broke out when two men chased another man into the backyard of the residence.

In December, a California assistant school principal, Augustin Salcedo, was killed after he was abducted from a restaurant along with five other men while he and his wife were visiting her hometown of Gomex Palacio, in the northern state of Durango.

The motive for the mass abduction is still unknown. Other Americans appear to have been specifically targeted.

U.S. anti-kidnapping expert Felix Batista was abducted by gunmen in December 2008 in the northern city of Saltillo, where he had gone to advise local businessmen on how to avoid becoming victims of the country’s wave of kidnappings. He has not been found. And on March 13, 2010, gunmen believed to be linked to drug traffickers ahot a pregnant American consulate worker and her husband to death in Ciudad Juárez. The same gunmen also killed the husband of another consular employee and wounded their two young children.

Americans, from border state governors to military analysts in Washington, have begun to question whether the mounting violence presents a threat to their own national security and, to the outrage of many Mexicans, whether the state itself will crumble under the strain of the war.

The Obama Administration released a critical report, called the 2010 National Methamphetamine Threat Assessment by the National Drug Intelligence Center of the Justice Department, that portrays drug cartels as easily able to circumvent the Mexican government’s restrictions on the importing of chemicals used to manufacture meth, which has reached its highest purity and lowest price in the United States since 2005. Closer to home, the report also points to increased cooperation between Mexican drug trafficking organizations and U.S.-based street and prison gangs to distribute illegal substances. In many areas, American gangs have used their alliances with Mexican cartels to facilitate an expansion of their midlevel and retail drug operations into more rural and suburban areas.
Responding to a growing sense that Mexico’s military-led fight against drug traffickers is not gaining ground, the U.S. and Mexico set their joint counternarcotics strategy on a new course in March 2010 by refocusing their efforts on strengthening civilian law enforcement institutions and rebuilding communities crippled by poverty and crime.
Under the new $331 million plan, American and Mexican agencies will work together to refocus border enforcement efforts away from building a better wall to creating systems that would allow goods and people to be screened before they reach crossing points. The plan also provides support for Mexican programs intended to strengthen communities where socioeconomic hardships force many young people into crime.
Even with these new initiatives under way, the drug-related violence in Mexico shows no signs of dissipating. The U.S State Department has warned against nonessential travel along the U.S.-Mexico border, especially in the violent cities of Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana, and allowed consulate employees to evacuate their families for the foreseeable future. As even Calderón has conceded, “It’s a war.”With the growing prevalence of illicit substances in the United States by way of Mexico, you or
someone you know may have been impacted by a drug-related crime. The lawyers at Sullo & Sullo, LLP understand the serious ramifications of these charges and are here to help. Contact us today for a free legal evaluation at 713.839.9026

Benefits to Hiring a Houston Attorney in Traffic Court

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After getting over the initial inconvenience (and perhaps injustice) of being pulled over and given a traffic citation, you then have to decide how you are going to handle your ticket. For those who do not have the time to go to court or research Texas traffic law, it is an easy choice: hand the ticket over to an attorney who specializes in violations in traffic court. Others, however, may feel that they can handle the traffic citation on their own. Besides, they may wonder, it’s only a minor traffic offense. How difficult and complicated could it be?

If your only concern is taking care of the ticket, then you can hand over your hard-earned money to the city of Houston. They will be happy to take your money from you any day of the week. You can mail in a payment and the ticket will be resolved with points going against your driving record. However, if you are not eager to give up your money to the city, care about your driving record, and want to get the best deal possible, it’s always a good idea to hire an attorney. Here are some of the top reasons why you should hire a Sullo and Sullo attorney to handle your traffic ticket.

1. Your attorney keeps you informed. One of the biggest benefits of having a Sullo and Sullo attorney with you in traffic court is that your attorney will keep you informed. For the ordinary law abiding/breaking citizen, traffic court often appears to be a mysterious milieu: attorneys are walking around the courtroom talking to different players; various defendants are approaching the bench at different times to speak to the judge; police officers are walking in and out of the courtroom signing mysterious sheets of paper; and bailiffs are yelling at everyone to lower their voices and follow courtroom rules. With an attorney by your side, you can remain confident that you know the rules of the court, how your case is being handled, and how the day will unravel. You will look around and see many frustrated faces, and some dazed and confused faces. But you can sit back and relax, knowing that your attorney has just informed you of all the ins and outs of courtroom procedure and protocol.

2. Your attorney knows what gets a traffic case dismissed in court. Many people have the misperception that traffic cases are only dismissed when an officer does not show up to court. However, there are many different angles through which a traffic case can be dismissed pre-trial. When you hire Sullo and Sullo to handle your case, you can be confident knowing that your attorney has exhausted every possible means of dismissal. From finding legal and factual mistakes on the drafted complaint to talking to the prosecutor and officer about any possible mitigating factors, your attorney will work every angle of the case with the goal of pre-trial dismissal.

3. Your attorney knows the rules of evidence and traffic laws. If your case does end up going to trial, you will be heavily disadvantaged if you do not have an attorney advocating on your behalf. Probably one of the most important reasons to have an attorney with you in traffic court is the attorney’s knowledge of the rules of evidence and the convoluted traffic laws of the state of Texas. While this knowledge is helpful in pre-trial matters, it is critical during the trial stage. Even the most highly-educated, well-meaning defendants fail miserably when going up against a seasoned attorney in trial. Pro se defendants often do not know how to conduct an efficient voir dire, when and how to deliver certain portions of their case at large, and how to conduct a debilitating cross examination. Also, many defendants arrive to court very well prepared armed with graphs, pictures and other evidence. They are often perplexed and stunned when the judge prevents them from showing any of the evidence to the jury because none of the items have been properly introduced in accordance with the rules of evidence. Don’t let yourself become one of these unfortunate people who are left wondering, “Why didn’t I just hire an attorney?” You wouldn’t operate on yourself if you discovered you needed gastric bypass surgery. Instead, you would seek the services of a skilled professional in that area. So, without the legal background and education of an attorney, why would you litigate a case on your own?

4. Your attorney knows the court system. Every Sullo attorney knows the game and how it’s played in traffic court. Our attorneys who specialize in traffic tickets are in the traffic trenches every day of the week. They are a part of the every day routine and see the inner workings of the court system. Your attorney will know which prosecutors are the best to work deals with and which prosecutors are the best to try cases against. Your attorney will also know the nuances of each judge and tailor his/her trial tactics accordingly. Do not underestimate the value of your attorney’s every day interaction with and exposure to all the courtroom players. Your attorney will take this vault of information and guide you through the strategy for your specific case. You will quickly know what will get you in trouble with the bailiffs in certain courts, and what you should say and what you should not say. Having an attorney with this wealth of knowledge by your side is an invaluable asset.