NH Couple Indicted on Prescription Drug Dealing Charges

CONCORD, NH - Two residents of New Ipswich have been indicted for allegedly conspiring to distribute misbranded prescription drugs, including controlled substances, from India, according to the U.S. Attorney.

John and Plabplueng Hayes were each charged with one felony count of conspiracy to introduce misbranded drugs into interstate commerce and one felony count of conspiracy to use a communications facility, the United States mail, to facilitate a drug trafficking offense. They were indicted last week, according to Emily Gray Rice.

According to the indictment, "the defendants were part of a multi-national drug distribution operation" and "allegedly conspired with each other, and with co-conspirators in India and North Carolina, to receive hundreds of thousands of prescription drugs, including controlled substances, from India and other foreign locations."

The defendants received these drugs at U.S. Post Office boxes throughout New Hampshire and Massachusetts, stored the drugs at their residence in New Ipswich, and then reshipped them in smaller parcels to individuals throughout the United States, based on instructions from the co-conspirator located in India.

“Consumers rely on the FDA to ensure that their medications are safe and effective," said Jeffrey J. Ebersole, Special Agent in Charge, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations' New York Field Office, in a statement. "When misbranded drugs are introduced into the U.S. marketplace, the potential danger to the public's health is great. The FDA will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who place the public's health at risk.”