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Miami recruiter admits role in South Florida oxycodone scheme involving 87,000 pills
Jose Llerena pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute controlled substances after prosecutors said he paid people to obtain oxycodone prescriptions and resold the pills. Authorities say more than 87,000 pills were diverted through the South Florida operation.
A 49-year-old Miami man pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to distribute controlled substances in a South Florida scheme involving more than 87,000 oxycodone pills, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors identified Jose Llerena as a recruiter who paid people to pose as patients and obtain unnecessary prescriptions from area clinics and doctors. He then bought pills from the recruits and resold them on the street, often paying recruits through Zelle, authorities said.
The operation involved Olushola Yusuf, a pharmacist who owned two South Florida pharmacies: Boots LLC, doing business as Striderite in Margate, and Chans Pharmacy Plus in Pembroke Pines. Prosecutors said Yusuf kept a list of Llerena’s recruits at the pharmacies and accepted cash from him for the pills at above-market prices.
Authorities say Llerena was personally responsible for distributing 3,735 pills. Yusuf was convicted in July in the conspiracy after prosecutors said she illegally dispensed more than 300,000 oxycodone pills.
Llerena faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. A sentencing date was not provided in the available information.
“More than 87,000 oxycodone pills were diverted through this conspiracy, feeding addiction and putting dangerous drugs onto our streets,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said in a statement. He said Llerena recruited people to obtain pills and paid them before reselling the drugs for profit.