Wednesday, August 22, 2001
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Wednesday, August 22, 2001 |
| Tyrone couple
arrested for online Viagra sales scam
By JOHN MUNFORD
A Tyrone couple has been arrested by state and federal drug enforcement officials for operating a pharmacy without a license. Michael Wayne Olvey Jr., 36, and Mary Marie Olvey, 33, were behind onlinepills.com, according to Rick Allen, deputy director of the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency. The site charged a $75 consultation fee for patients to be evaluated for prescriptions. "The Olveys collected a large percentage of that $75," Allen said. Most of the prescriptions were handled for Viagra, Allen said. The drug is prescribed by doctors to help men with erection problems. He estimated that the site processed between 300 and 500 prescriptions a day. The Olveys have been released from the Fayette County Jail after posting cash bonds of over $330,000. Although no drugs were found at the Olveys' home in Tyrone, the prescriptions were filled at two particular pharmacies: one in Florida and another in Arizona, Allen said. The Olveys were charged with operating an unlicensed pharmacy since they maintained and transmitted confidential patient information, Allen said. Neither of the Olveys "were a pharmacist or a doctor or anything close to it." The prescriptions were written through a doctor in California, Allen noted. The web site was still online Monday afternoon. The federal Food and Drug Administration's criminal investigations division also took part in the investigation, Allen said. The investigation, which began more than three months ago, will continue, Allen said. More arrests are expected, he added. Customers using the site were unaware the pharmacy was unlicensed, although some customers reported they didn't receive pills they were supposed to, Allen said. That was initially how the investigation began, he added.
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