'Ringleader' Of Virginia Opioid Distribution Network Pleads Guilty

ARLINGTON, VA — An office manager for an Arlington doctor pleaded guilty Monday to being the "ringleader" of a decade-long oxycodone distribution network, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Candie Marie Calix, 40, of Front Royal worked as an office manager for a physician in Arlington, according to court records that do not identify the doctor.

Between 2012 and 2022, the doctor prescribed Calix nearly 40,000 oxycodone 30-mg pills and more than 9,000 oxycodone 15-mg pills. The doctor also prescribed similar quantities of oxycodone 30-mg and 15-mg pills to Calix’s relatives, including her mother, grandparents, great-grandmother, brother and husband, according to court records.

Calix distributed or directed others to distribute most of the pills that the doctor prescribed to Calix and her family members, court records say.

Calix “functioned as the gatekeeper” to the doctor, the U.S. attorney’s office said. She recruited people she knew from around Front Royal to be “patients” of the doctor and obtain large quantities of oxycodone.

These “patients,” in turn, “typically kicked back the oxycodone 30-mg pills they were prescribed to Calix to redistribute, and kept the oxycodone 15-mg pills for their own use,” according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Calix recruited at least 12 people to be “patients” of the doctor.

“Calix and her co-conspirators used coded language to refer to the pills they distributed, for example, referring to oxycodone 30-mg pills as ‘tickets,’ ‘blueberries,’ or ‘muffins,’” the U.S. attorney’s office said. “The co-conspirators typically sold oxycodone 30-mg pills at a cost of $25 per pill, and over the course of the conspiracy, generated at least $5,000 per month in profits.”

Two of Calix’s co-conspirators, Kendall Sovereign, 56, and Jessica Talbott, 35, both of Front Royal, also pleaded guilty to their involvement in the distribution network. Sovereign and Talbott are both scheduled to be sentenced on Sept 21.

Calix is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 28. She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.