Pharmacy Manager Guilty, Diversion and Money Laundering

A pharmacy manager from Burnsville, North Carolina, pleaded guilty for her role in the fraudulent diversion of prescription drugs and money laundering.

Karen Ann Turner, 37, pleaded guilty in the Western District of North Carolina to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Turner was charged in connection with a fraudulent scheme that operated out of pharmacies in Burnsville, North Carolina, and Travelers Rest, South Carolina. As a part of that scheme, Turner bought prescription drugs at lower prices by falsely stating that the drugs would be used to fill patient prescriptions through the pharmacies that she operated. Instead of using the drugs for patient prescriptions, Turner sold them at higher prices to unauthorized drug wholesalers. Some of the prescription drugs that Turner bought and sold were in short supply. Turner laundered the profits of her fraud scheme by transferring them through bank accounts that she controlled.

As part of her guilty plea, Turner admitted that she operated two pharmacies to fraudulently obtain prescription drugs at low prices that were only available to pharmacies that agreed to use the drugs to fill patient prescriptions. Instead of using the drugs to fill prescriptions as she said she would, Turner sold the drugs to drug wholesalers for more than she paid, taking the drugs out of their controlled distribution system.