Press Release
MEDICAL DEVICE MARKETER SENTENCED ON CHARGES OF CONSPIRING TO TRAFFIC DIVERTED MEDICAL DEVICES AND DEFRAUD A FEDERAL AGENCY
August 17, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and David W. Bourne, Special Agent in Charge, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Criminal Investigations, Miami Field Office, announced that defendant John Keith Danks, 44, of Delray Beach, Florida, was sentenced on August 15, 2007 in a criminal case arising out of a Miami-based FDA investigation named Operation Miami Device. Thus far, Operation Miami Device has led to convictions in twenty-three (23) cases of medical device theft with charges pending against three additional individuals, and has resulted in forfeitures, fines, and restitution totaling over $17 million dollars.
Danks was sentenced before United States District Court Judge Alan S. Gold, in Miami, Florida, for his role in a conspiracy to transport and sell in interstate commerce various prescription medical devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.
Judge Gold sentenced Danks to a term of thirty (30) months imprisonment, followed by a three (3) year term of supervised release. In addition, the court ordered Danks to forfeit more than $8.8 million dollars to the United States, an amount equal to the personal gain he derived from the criminal conspiracy.
According to court records and statements at the hearing, from approximately January 1997 through January 2005, Danks was a leader in a conspiracy with individuals located throughout the United States, who were sales representatives and other employees of medical device manufacturers. Danks solicited the other members of the conspiracy to sell him medical devices which he would then re-sell into a black market for the expensive devices. Many of the coconspirators were current employees of Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, and secured possession of significant quantities of prescription medical devices through their employment which they then shipped to the Delray Beach-based Danks for re-sale. According to statements in court, at least nine of the coconspirators have been charged or convicted thus far as a result of the government's investigation.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Food and Drug Administration. These cases were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Watts-FitzGerald.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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