Costa Rican Pleads Guilty in US to Selling Fake Viagra

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A 41-year-old Costa Rican named Navarro Quesada pleaded guilty in the Pennsylvania Western District Court to the crimes of conducting mail fraud and money laundering.

Navarro Quesada was arrested in February at the Adolfo Suárez-Barajas airport in Madrid following an alert sent to the International Police (Interpol) by U.S. authorities.

The Costa Rican man admitted to having used a website domiciled in Costa Rica to illegally market erectile dysfunction drugs from India. The products were purchased through the website and then mailed to clients in the United States.

Because the drugs are regulated by law in the U.S., they are only allowed to be sold by licensed medical professionals. In the ruling, Pennsylvania judge, Donetta W. Ambrose, said the man’s customers were made to believe the adderall and viagra pills they were buying met U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards, but they were in fact falsified products.

Navarro Quesada was convicted October 16 of two of the five crimes for which he was initially charged. Navarro did not accept the charge against him of conspiracy to smuggle drugs for erectile dysfunction.

The Costa Rican will be sentenced on March 18 at 11:00 a.m. (local time) and could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison. He could also be fined up to US$750,000

“This case is an excellent example of how the U.S. will use all available tools available to identify and arrest drug traffickers,” said Wayne Salzgaber, Interpol interim director, about the case.

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