State v. Mr. R (DMC No. 12396) – Felony Counterfeiting ($150,000 of Viagra, Cialis, and Levetra) & Felony Fraud Schemes – Reduced to Probation with Zero Days in Jail – Maricopa County Superior Court (Case No. CR2014-127144).
Mr. R. had discovered that he could purchase Counterfeit Viagra, Cialis, and Levetra off of a foreign website for approximately $1 per pill. These drugs are male enhancement pills that were very popular with television advertising. Mr. R. then advertised on Craigslist that he would sell these pills for $2 per pill, effectively doubling his money. A Detective for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals discovered that this ad been going on for some time and he arranged several fake buys. The Detective then put together all of his findings and submitted those to the Phoenix Police Department. Ultimately, Mr. R., was charged with Felony Counterfeiting under ARS 44-1453, and Felony Fraudulent Schemes.
We became involved in the case and we immediately had the Counterfeit pills analyzed by an independent lab. It was discovered that they did bear the Counterfeit mark of the Pfizer Corporation, and packaging of the three pharmaceutical companies. Although the drugs were manufactured with similar chemicals (known as “analog compounds”), they were still not the original product. We then began assembling the Mitigation materials regarding Mr. R. We presented these to the Prosecutor at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
These materials demonstrated that Mr. R. was 68 years old with no previous criminal background. He was also a former Army veteran who was deployed to Vietnam and served as a sharp shooter. He was part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. He was honorably discharged with a Purple Heart received regarding injuries he sustained in the line of fire. We also showed the Prosecutor the amount of cooperation provided by Mr. R. with the Police department after he was charged.
Due to the amount of Mitigation, the Prosecutor extended Mr. R. an offer of Attempt, which included Probation and the possibility of Zero Days in Jail, or up to 1 year in Jail. At Sentencing, the Judge found we had presented significant Mitigation regarding Mr. R’s remorse and cooperation, his good reputation in the community, a strong support network, prior good acts, lack of prior bad acts, good character and reputation, and that he had behaved admirably during the pretrial and presentence phase of his case. The Judge agreed, and sentenced Mr. R. to Zero Days in Jail. This was done even though the pharmaceutical companies had presented evidence of a loss of $150,000 due to Mr. R’s Counterfeiting and Fraudulent Schemes activities.