FRESNO -  Fresno residents Ifeanyi Vincent Ntukogu, 49, and Kelo White, 43, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to distribute and distributing oxycodone and hydrocodone, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court records, from December 2014 through November 2018, in Madera and Fresno, Ntukogu, a pharmacist, dispensed over 200,000 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills based on prescriptions delivered to him by White and co-defendant Donald Ray Pierre, 55, of Fresno, that they knew were forged and fraudulent.

Ntukogu reviewed each prescription and rejected the ones he believed regulators may deem suspicious. For example, Ntukogu rejected prescriptions written by certain doctors or written for individuals who had prescriptions filled at other pharmacies. He also alerted White and Pierre when the required language on the prescription pads changed.

Ntukogu dispensed the pills through his New Life Pharmacy in Madera. To do so, he required cash payments from White and Pierre and increased the price he charged over time.

Ntukogu and White are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 23, 2024. For each of the conspiracy to distribute and distribution convictions, they face statutory maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentences, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after considering any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which consider several variables.

Pierre, the other defendant in the case, was previously convicted and sentenced to nine years and four months in prison.