New charges against 5 Utahns indicted in online pharmacy scheme

SALT LAKE CITY — Five Utahns, already facing federal charges accusing them of running an Internet pharmacy scheme, now have additional charges leveled against them.

Kenneth E. Forrest, 43, and Timothy Shields, 45, both of Provo, are facing new charges of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, drug distribution, and money laundering. Martha Forrest, 66, of Salt Lake City, is facing charges of drug distribution and money laundering while Treila Shumway, 40, of Manti, was also charged with drug distribution. Deborah McCoard, 43, of Spring City, was charged in the money laundering count with Kenneth E. Forrest, Martha Forrest and Shields. They are all set to have a trial in August.

A total of 18 people were named in the initial indictment in 2008 for allegedly setting up online pharmacies and using the Web sites to sell drugs they were creating in a lab in Mexico. The indictment said the group attempted to distribute controlled substances such as Ritalin, Valium, Phentermine and Xanax, between October 2003 and July 2007 when they were importing the drugs from Mexico. It is believed they sold as many as 11 million pills.

At the time, investigators said they were able to charge people at all levels of the operation, including those producing the drugs in Mexico.

Greg Crosby, 52, of Provo, was accused of teaming up with Dr. James Brinton and Noah Sifuentes to set up lighthousemeds.com, where they distributed Phentermine. The IRS reported that Crosby made almost $1 million a month in sales and believes the site grossed approximately $8.9 million overall.

Crosby pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute Phentermine and one count of conspiracy to commit international money laundering in March while Brinton and Sifuentes both have change of plea hearings scheduled in May.

Sifuentes, 58, was sentenced Wednesday in 4th District Court in Provo to 90 days in jail on unrelated felony fraud charges. He pleaded guilty in February to three counts of securities fraud in connection with investments he solicited for business ventures in Mexico.

Judge Lynn Davis told Sifuentes he can avoid jail if he makes his victims whole within 60 days by paying $370,000 in restitution. Sifuentes claims he can raise the cash by selling a company he owns.

e-mail: emorgan@desnews.com