Crime & Safety
Sterling Man Pleads Guilty To Distributing Oxycodone
U.S. Attorney: He's part of prescription drug ring involving Arlington doctor
A Sterling man is facing up to 20 years in a federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million after pleading guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.
Donald Alvin Petties conspired with an Arlington doctor to distribute more than 17,000 oxycodone pills, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of virginia.
Oxycodone is an opioid pain medication that can be highly addictive. In addition to Petties, seven other co-conspirators of the Arlington doctor, Derron McRae Simon, have pleaded guilty as a result of an FBI investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Petties pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria to conspiracy to distribute and dispense a controlled substance and to possession with intent to distribute and dispense controlled substances, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In a statement filed with his plea agreement, Petties said that during the course of the conspiracy, which began in February 2013, Simon wrote numerous oxycodone prescriptions for Petties that were not for a legitimate medical purpose.
Simon also wrote fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions in the names of Petties’s mother and children without their knowledge or authorization, and Petties then filled these fraudulent prescriptions, he admitted in his statement. Petties and Simon would sell the oxycodone to other co-conspirators for further distribution.
Petties conspired to distribute at least 6,540 oxycodone pills, while Simon conspired to distribute at least 11,000 pills, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Simon pleaded guilty on Dec. 18 to conspiracy to distribute and dispense, and to possession with intent to distribute and dispense controlled substances, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He also pleaded guilty to distributing a controlled substance to a person under the age of 21.
On July 28, Simon signed a consent order with the Virginia Board of Medicine and surrendered his medical license, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The order states Simon will not be eligible for reinstatement at any future date.
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