Man pleads guilty in online pharmacy scheme

A man indicted along with 18 others in an online pharmacy scheme pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday.

Edgar Flores-Cuevas, 36, was named in five of the nine counts listed in the indictment that charged people at all levels of the scheme, which prosecutors contend involved illegally importing and selling drugs. It is believed those running the operation were able to distribute more than 11 million pills, making millions of dollars in the process, from 2003 until the scheme was discovered in 2008. Flores-Cuevas' native Mexico was used as a base in the plan to supply the drugs to illegitimate pharmacies. Flores-Cuevas was indicted for two counts of conspiracy to import the drug Phentermine, two counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Before U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, a crime that carries a possible sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. The other four charges were dropped.

Flores-Cuevas will be sentenced in January.

— Emiley Morgan