One leader of a Northern Virginia oxycodone-distribution ring that helped others get their start dealing illegal narcotics has pleaded guilty, and a plea hearing is scheduled later this week for another. Marc Harding, 29, of Broad Run, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria to conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone. His cousin, 24-year-old Brooke Reighard, of Haymarket, is slated to have a plea agreement hearing on Friday.
They have gotten thousands of fraudulent prescriptions for painkillers filled over the past four years by making digital forgeries of a legitimate prescription, according to court records. They sold some of the painkillers to others, and some of the buyers later began fraudulently obtaining and distributing the drugs as well, court documents say.
Also charged in the case is Reighard’s husband, 45-year-old Kurt Reighard. His case is still pending.
Court documents say three oxycodone-distribution rings grew out of the work of people who started dealing through the Reighards and Harding.
Those Oxycodone distributors “learned aspects of the illicit craft of forging false prescriptions” from the Reighards and Harding, who were part of “an original core conspiracy,” the documents say.
Harding’s plea agreement says he used a legitimate Adderall prescription to create the template for the fraudulent prescriptions. He and others then got the fake prescriptions filled at Virginia pharmacies.
The ring operated between June 2007 and July 2011, the plea agreement says. Harding helped obtain more than 7,000 tablets of the painkiller Roxicodone, according to prosecutors.
His attorney, Denise Tassi, declined to comment. An attorney for Brooke Reighard could not be reached. Keva McDonald, Kurt Reighard’s lawyer, said she had no comment and declined to say whether a plea deal was in the works.
Authorities tracked down the Reighards and Harding after investigators noticed “striking similarities” in forged prescriptions from the other subrings. The same people were dropping off the prescriptions and were using the same doctors’
Drug Enforcement Administration identification information.
At least 17 people have been charged in connection with the rings since February.
The Reighards and Harding initially obtained Vicodin and Percocet. Brooke Reighard got the nickname “Brookocet” but later moved to stronger drugs like Roxicodone and OxyContin, according to court documents.
Harding is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 2 and could face up to 20 years in prison.
