Source: United States Attorneys General
Headline: Couple charged with illegally selling prescription medical devices
ATLANTA – Kimverlee Aderhold and Eric E. Ramey, Jr., have been arraigned on federal charges of unlawfully selling stolen medical devices that require a prescription without an actual prescription. Aderhold and Ramey were indicted by a federal grand jury on January 23, 2018.
“The medical products the defendants allegedly stole can only be obtained with a prescription from a medical provider,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “They sold them to unsuspecting consumers without determining whether the products were safe for the consumers to use and without instructing the consumers on how to use the products safely. In doing so, the consumers’ health and safety were placed in jeopardy.”
“When prescription devices are stolen and diverted from the legal supply chain, there is no longer any assurance that the products are safe and effective for their intended uses,” said Peter Kuehl, Acting Special Agent in Charge, FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations’ Miami Field Office. “This announcement should serve as a reminder of the FDA’s continued focus on individuals that put profits ahead of the health and safety of U.S. consumers.”
According to U.S. Attorney Pak, the charges, and other information presented in court: Aderhold was employed as the Retail Manager in Georgia for Advanced Home Care, a durable medical device company that has retail locations in Marietta and Norcross. Advanced Home Care is a retail distributor of CPap and BiPap machines and portable oxygen concentrators. The use of these medical products is not safe except when used under the supervision of a medical practitioner licensed by law to oversee their use. Federal law requires that CPap and BiPap machines and portable oxygen concentrators be purchased only with a prescription issued by a licensed medical practitioner.
Aderhold allegedly stole CPap and BiPap machines and portable oxygen concentrators from the inventory of the Advanced Home Care stores she managed. She and Ramey would advertise the stolen products for sale, primarily on Craigslist. Once a buyer responded to their advertisement, Ramey or Aderhold allegedly would meet with the buyer and sell the stolen medical equipment for cash only. The defendants did not ask the buyers to produce prescriptions for the devices. Ramey and Aderhold did not provide instructions to the buyers regarding the safe use of the stolen medical devices.
Kimverlee Aderhold, 27, and Eric E. Ramey, Jr., 31, both of Grayson, Georgia, were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Catherine M. Salinas, and are charged with conspiring to steal medical products that can be obtained only with a prescription and possession of the same stolen medical products. They are also charged with multiple counts of theft of such medical products and possession of stolen medical products. Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges. The defendants are presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
This case is being investigated by the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William L. McKinnon, Jr., is prosecuting the case.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.