GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA — Keowsha Golden, 36, of Greenville, was sentenced to more than 1o years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.
Evidence presented to the Court showed that Golden obtained prescription paper and then forged physician information to write prescriptions for 30 milligram oxycodone tablets. The prescriptions were passed at various pharmacies in the upstate of South Carolina and in western North Carolina. Golden used drug addicts and homeless persons to pass the prescriptions. She provided the prescription passers with the money to pick up the prescriptions as well as fraudulent identification documents. Golden sold the bottles of oxycodone tablets to others at the wholesale rate of $2,800 to $3,500 per bottle.
During the execution of a search warrant at Golden’s residence, law enforcement officers seized her personal telephone and laptop which revealed fraudulent prescription templates, physician information, and copies of driver’s licenses used by prescription passers at various pharmacies.
United States District Judge Donald C. Coggins sentenced Golden to 130 months imprisonment, to be followed by a three-year term of court-ordered supervision. There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), Laurens Police Department, and Greenville Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Watkins prosecuted the case.
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