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Published Monday, February 09, 2009 in Local

Defendants in pharmaceutical case sentenced

By News Staff

The Newnan Times-Herald

Four defendants who pleaded guilty in a high-profile multi-million dollar federal suit in August in Newnan have been sentenced to federal prison time by U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp.

Jared Robert Wheat, Stephen Douglas Smith, Tomasz Holda and Sergio Ronaldo Oliveira each pleaded guilty to a charge of general conspiracy attempt last August in U.S. District Court at the Lewis Morgan Federal Building in Newnan.

Judge Camp has sentenced Wheat, 37, of Alpharetta, to more than four years in federal prison and assessed a $3 million forfeiture. Wheat was the mastermind behind Norcross-based company Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, which criminally schemed to manufacture and import adulterated and unauthorized pharmaceutical products over the Internet, according to court officials.

Hi-Tech's illegal knock-offs included Viagra, Ambien, Lipitor, Celebrex, Xanax, Vioxx and Zoloft. The defendants opened a drug manufacturing facility in Belize in approximately 2002 and frequently traveled there to manufacture the various prescription and controlled substances. The U.S. government was made aware of the illegal operations in 2004 after the Belizian government executed a search warrant on the manufacturing facility and found links to the United States.

Judge Camp also sentenced Wheat's conspirators. Smith, 40, of Duluth, will serve 27 months in federal prison. Holda, 45, of Duluth, received a sentence of 24 months in prison. Oliveira, 48, of Hoschton, was sentenced to 27 months. Another co-conspirator, 42-year-old David Brady, of Pinehurst, N.C., will spend 32 months in custody for his involvement in the scheme, and he was ordered to forfeit $1.7 million.

Additionally, co-defendants Steven Blinder, 44, of South Dakota, 39-year-old David Johnson, of Pinehurst, N.C., Brad Watkins, 40, of Marietta, and Watkins' brother, David, 42, of Daphne, Ala., all received non-custodial felony sentences.

Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals was placed on five years' probation by Judge Camp for its involvement in the criminal scheme.

"These defendants sought to profit from unsuspecting customers who had no idea they were buying pills manufactured in highly unsanitary conditions in a Belezian house, all without FDA approval or licensing from the rightful patent holders," said U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias. "We are extremely fortunate that no one was sickened or killed by these drugs, which are lawfully available only via prescription and from legitimate manufacturers."