Missouri Man Pleads Guilty to Selling Fake Drugs

Mark Hughes was accused of ordering fake erectile dysfunction medication from overseas and then sold them in an illegal, unlicensed pharmacy and on the street, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Bodenhausen said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized Hughes’ last shipment of 1,000 fake pills in 2009. A search of Hughes’ house turned up more evidence and the man admitted buying about 11,000 pills over the years and selling them for $5 each, which is reportedly around one-third of the wholesale value of the actual medication.

KMOX reports that the total infringement value of the counterfeit drugs obtained by Hughes was more than 120,000.

According to Bodenhausen, the counterfeit drugs did not contain the correct medication or did not have enough of it.

Specifically, Hughes pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit goods and misbranding a drug.

The Post-Dispatch reports that Hughes will be sentenced in January and could face a number of years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.