Gulfport, Miss. - Marcus Deshawn Price, 28, of Gulfport, was sentenced today by U.S. District Sul Ozerden, Jr. to 74 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam. Price was also ordered to pay a $3,000 fine.
On Oct. 17, 2017, Price pled guilty to conspiring with others to distribute several controlled substances, including but not limited to oxycodone, hydrocodone, and amphetamine. From 2014 to August, 2017, several employees of Gulf Oaks Clinic took prescription pads from the clinic and forged numerous prescriptions for individuals from Hattiesburg to the Gulf Coast. Those individuals were not patients and the individuals who wrote the prescriptions were not valid prescribers.
Price picked up several fraudulent prescriptions associated with the conspiracy. He provided the pharmacies with his Mississippi driver’s license and signed the pharmacy signature logs. Price also had other individuals pick up prescriptions for him and he used other individuals’ personal information to obtain fraudulent prescriptions. After getting the pills, Price would split the pills with other individuals.
The DEA’s Diversion Group investigated the case. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathlyn R. Van Buskirk.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
