USA News Hub

In 2006 and 2007, prosecutors wrote, Mr. Doud received letters from the D.E.A. emphasizing that distributors have a responsibility to avoid filling suspicious orders. Despite that, they wrote, Mr. Doud designed a plan to ship drugs to pharmacies that they knew were diverting the drugs and supplying them to addicts.

R.D.C. violated its own policies by sending drugs to pharmacies despite red flags that included unusually large orders, a high percentage of prescriptions being purchased with cash, routinely filling prescriptions for high pill counts, as well as filling orders for doctors who were out of state or had demonstrated suspicious behavior.

Mr. Doud directed that the shipments continue, prosecutors wrote, saying that he made it clear that he “didn’t care to turn off stores because that would affect the sales of RDC” and that he had also said that it was the D.E.A.’s job to police pharmacies, not his company’s.

Prosecutors wrote that Mr. Pietruszewski and another employee, Jessica Pompeo Bouck, said that the company impeded the D.E.A. by not reporting suspicious orders, and they attributed that decision to Mr. Doud. He also decided to supply drugs to customers without determining whether those drugs were being distributed legitimately, according to prosecutors.

In addition to testimony from R.D.C. employees, jurors in Mr. Doud’s trial heard from a former pharmacy owner, Michael Paulsen, who testified that he purchased oxycodone from R.D.C. and diverted those pills, selling them to drug dealers and people he knew were suffering from addiction.

Another witness was Barbara Castro, who prosecutors wrote became addicted to opioids after suffering from medical problems. Ms. Castro testified that a doctor named Carl Anderson, whom prosecutors said R.D.C. had flagged as suspicious, prescribed her oxycodone for no legitimate medical purpose and that she filled those prescriptions at a pharmacy that R.D.C. supplied.

Ms. Castro testified that she would go to Dr. Anderson’s office as late as 10 p.m. and spend all night there until she got her prescription, prosecutors wrote. They added that Ms. Castro also testified that she had visible “track marks on her arms” and would “nod out in the waiting room for hours.”