CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A St. Albans woman pleaded guilty today to federal crimes involving obtaining oxycodone and Xanax by fraud, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Virginia Scarberry, 52, entered her guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to obtain controlled substances by fraud and one count of obtaining controlled substances by fraud.
Scarberry admitted that on April 14, 2015, she obtained oxycodone and Xanax by presenting a prescription that she knew to be fraudulent to the Kroger pharmacy in St. Albans. Scarberry further admitted that she was paid $250 to get the fraudulent prescription filled and that she also knew the prescription was not valid because she had never been a patient of the doctor whose name was on the preprinted prescription pad.
Scarberry faces up to four years in federal prison for each count, for a total of up to eight years, when she is sentenced on Feb. 1, 2017.
The Dunbar Police Department, the South Charleston Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation. 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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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
