Remember that suburban mom busted for dealing large amounts of counterfeit high-grade Viagra? Her black market business partner has pleaded to the conspiracy, too.
Dwayne Alan Skiles, 34, of LaPlata, admitting to conspiring with Sarah Anne Knott to trafficking in tablets bearing the Viagra trademark through listings on Craigslist, email and other means.
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Knott advertised the product, completed sales and handled shipping; Skiles accepted the payments for sales through Western Union.
According to email statements included in charging documents, Skiles and a third partner initially decided to avoid using Craigslist because the conspirators would need to provide Western Union with a legitimate identity.
Knott went ahead and put up a Craigslist posting, and Skiles wrote that he was concerned.
“We both know that if anyone is questioned … it will be the only name that they have. Mine,” Skiles said. “I am happy that you took the initiative to move forward and generate the sales. I’m not happy that either has to put our names on the WU. But the fact is, it has been working well and there is no reason to stop now.”
Skiles’ words appeared prophetic. Private investigators for Pfizer Corp. alerted federal agents of the possible sale of Viagra after answering Knott’s online advertisement, police said.
The pills looked similar to the real blue pills, according to court documents, with markings identical to an actual Viagra tablet.
Tablets were tested at a Food and Drug Administration lab and found to contain about 8 percent more of the active ingredient of Viagra than the actual prescription pills.
Undercover agents approached Knott, 28, and she told them that she could sell thousands of the male enhancement pills in a matter of months. She kept the tablets high up in a closet out of the reach of her young children.
In January, federal agents raided Knott’s residence and seized 45,684 counterfeit Viagra tablets.
Pfizer lost $119,893 in sales because of the fake pills, of which Skiles’ share of proceeds was $2,500, federal prosecutors said.
It’s unclear from charging documents where the conspirators got access to the fake pills, but Skiles mentions sources in New York.
Knott has pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit Viagra tablets and was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $8,425 in restitution.
Skiles faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at his sentencing in federal court in Greenbelt in Dec. 20.
