Facing up to 40 years in prison and/or a US$750,000 fine, Costa Rican Ramiro Navarro Quesada, 40 years of age, was sentenced to 33 months in the United States by U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh judge Donetta W. Ambrose.
The sentencing was on March 19 of this year.
Navarro Quesada had pleaded guilty last October after being arrested earlier in the year.
The Tico had been charged with mail fraud and conspiracy to misbrand and smuggle Schedule II and Schedule IV and erectile dysfunction drugs and money laundering. Quesada was arrested in Madrid, Spain and was extradited to the United States.
According to the indictment, Navarro Quesada used a Costa Rican website to advertise the Internet sale of controlled substances and erectile dysfunction drugs, which were exported from India and received in the United States, then mailed the drugs to U.S. consumers who had ordered them through the Costa Rican website. The consumers were falsely led to believe that the drugs were “FDA approved,” that the counterfeit drugs were genuine Adderall and Viagra, and that it was legitimate to distribute such drugs without prescriptions.