August 2, 2007
SOUTH BURLINGTON COUPLE SENTENCED
FOR DISTRIBUTION OF OXYCODONE
The Office of the United States Attorney stated that Kevin Tatro, 47, and Heidi Norful, 43, of South Burlington, were sentenced yesterday to 18 months in prison for distributing Oxycodone, a powerful prescription narcotic pain killer. Norful and Tatro were arrested in May 2006, as part of an investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) into the illegal importation of thousands of OxyContin pills from Canada to the United States. Tatro and Norful were sentenced before the Honorable J. Garvan Murtha, United States District Court Judge, in Rutland. Following their prison sentence, Tatro and Norful will be on Federal Supervised release for three years.
According to court documents, ICE and detectives from the South Burlington Police Department began investigating Norful, Tatro, and others for illegally importing the controlled narcotic OxyContin into the United States from Canada. With the assistance of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (“RCMP”), the investigation revealed that between 2003 and May 2006, that Norful and Tatro fraudulently obtained over 10,000 OxyContin pills (40 mg and 80 mg tablets) in Canada and then smuggling the drug into the United States. Court records further show that during this time period, Norful and Tatro made frequent trips to a number of different medical clinics in Canada to obtain prescriptions for OxyContin. These prescriptions, many obtained fraudulently, would then be filled at various pharmacies in Canada, and paid for in cash. The drugs would then be smuggled back into the United States by secreting them in a body cavity. Once back in the United States, some of the drugs would be sold and the rest used by the defendants.
At yesterday’s sentencing hearing the United States recommended that Tatro and Norful be sentenced in accordance with the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which provided for a sentence of between 70 and 87 months in prison. The United States argued that such a sentence was warranted because of the amount of Oxycodone Norful and Tatro illegally brought into the United States, the dangerous nature of this drug and the recruitment of others to assist in their illegal actions. Judge Murtha decided not to follow the Sentencing Guidelines based on the defendants’ rehabilitation and imposed sentences of 18 months.
OxyContin is a trade name for the generic narcotic oxycodone hydrochloride, an opiate painkiller and a Schedule II drug under the Federal Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act. OxyContin has a high abuse potential and is prescribed for moderate to high pain relief. OxyContin and heroin have similar effects; therefore, both drugs are attractive to the same abuser population. A 80 milligram tablet of OxyContin by prescription costs approximately $10 or $1,000 for a 100-tablet bottle in a retail pharmacy in the United States. In Canada, an 80 mg OxyContin pill sells at a Canadian Pharmacy for about 4.00 CA. Accordingly, a prescription for one hundred 80 mg OxyContins costs approximately $400 CA. Street prices vary depending on geographic location. In Vermont, an 80 mg tablet has a street value of $100 per tablet.
United States Attorney Thomas D. Anderson praised the collaborative work of ICE, the RCMP and the South Burlington Police during the investigation of this case and in the apprehension of the defendants.
The prosecution of the case is being handled by United States Attorney Thomas D. Anderson. Tatro is represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Elizabeth Mann, Esq. Norful is represented by Richard Bothfeld, Esq.
