A suburban mother has been charged will selling large amounts of a counterfeit, high-grade version of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.
According to charging documents filed in federal court in Greenbelt, Sarah Anne Knott of Waldorf told undercover cops that she could sell thousands of the male enhancement pills in a matter of months and kept the tablets high up in a closet out of the reach of her young children.
“This is really peanuts compared to what we have,” she said as she doled out several dozen tablets to the undercover cop, according to court documents.
Knott, 28, was charged with trafficking in counterfeit goods, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $2 million fine. Knott was charged by information, which typically means that a plea agreement is in the works because the document can only be filed with the permission of the defendant.
Knott’s attorney did not return a message for comment late Tuesday.
According to charging documents, authorities were alerted of the possible sale of Viagra by private investigators for Pfizer Corporation, the maker of the erectile dysfunction drug.
The investigators purchased the pills from someone advertising the pills on Craigslist. The pills sold for $10 a piece or 20 for $140.
The pills looked similar to the real blue pills, according to court documents, with identical markings to an actual Viagra tablet. Someone named Sarah sent a follow-up email to one of the investigators checking to see whether he was happy with his purchase.
The investigators linked the sale of the drug to a home in Waldorf.
Tablets were tested at a FDA lab and found to contain about 8 percent more of the active ingredient of Viagra than the actual prescription pills.
In November, an undercover postal inspector met with Knott to make a monitored buy and arrange to sell the drugs himself, documents said.
The undercover inspector had an electronic surveillance device to record the meeting.
“If you really want to make money, um, there is tons more than this,” Knott allegedly told him.
She said she had access to “humongous bags” of 3,000 or 6,000 pills. It’s unclear where Knott got access to the fake pills.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/crime-punishment/2011/04/suburban-mom-charged-dealing-fake-viagra#ixzz1K5C8f8f3
