Cole Dixon Moore, a 36-year-old pharmacist from Moore, South Carolina, has been sentenced to two years in prison for the illegal distribution of oxycodone pills. This was announced by Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
The announcement was made alongside Jae W. Chung, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Chief Trent Conard of the Gastonia Police Department.
“Oxycodone on the streets has ruined lives and communities,” stated U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. “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.”
Moore was employed as a licensed pharmacist at Prescription Plus pharmacy in Gastonia when law enforcement began an investigation into his activities. Authorities received information that Moore was selling large quantities of alprazolam and oxycodone to a customer who lacked prescriptions for these drugs. Court documents revealed that Moore knew these pills were being resold on the street and sometimes advised on pricing per pill.
Investigators found that Moore demanded a share of sales from his customer, with arrangements requiring upfront payments and balances settled after drug sales. He admitted to stealing pills from pharmacy stock for resale. Law enforcement recovered at least 1,500 oxycodone and alprazolam pills sold without prescriptions during their investigation, revealing profits exceeding $20,000 over several months.
U.S. District Judge David C. Norton highlighted the widespread devastation caused by oxycodone while delivering Moore's sentence.
Beyond imprisonment, Judge Norton ordered supervised release for Moore and forfeiture of approximately $20,000 in proceeds.
In February, Prescriptions Plus agreed to pay $204,000 to settle allegations related to recordkeeping violations under the Controlled Substances Act due to inadequate monitoring practices enabling illegal distribution by its staff pharmacist.
The DEA and Gastonia Police Department conducted investigations into this case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Armstrong prosecuted Moore's criminal case while Assistant U.S. Attorney Holly Snow managed civil enforcement against Prescriptions Plus.
