U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp sentenced Jared Wheat and Sergio Oliveira to prison for their involvement with Planet Pharmacy in Belize which produced generic versions of various prescription drugs including various anabolic steroids. The government prosecutors in the case advocated 37 months for Wheat and 18 months for Oliveira; Judge Camp rejected the recommended sentencing included in their plea agreements under Rule 11(c)(1)(C) because it wasn’t harsh enough given “the seriousness of the conduct.” The C-pleas gives the defendant(s) the option to withdraw a guilty plea if the judge denies the sentencing deal; Wheat and Oliveira decided to proceed with sentencing. Jared Wheat was sentenced to 50 months in prison and Sergio Oliveira was sentenced to 27 months in prison (”Diet supplement king gets 50 months in prison,” February 3).
Jared Wheat founded Planet Pharmacy on September 20, 2001 when the corporate domain name PlanetPharmacy.bz was registered. The manufacturing, marketing, and sale of inexpensive generic pharmaceuticals commenced five months later. Sergio Oliveira was hired by Wheat in April 2003 to oversee offshore marketing for Planet Pharmacy; Oliveira introduced various anabolic steroids and ancillary products to the Planet Pharmacy product line including generic versions of Anavar, Anadrol, Dianabol, Winstrol, Arimidex, Clomid and Nolvadex. All of these activities were completely legal in Belize. The United States government nonetheless held the defendants criminally responsible for directly importing medications into the United States, in part, because they “knew” that one of their Mexican wholesalers was shipping parcels to residents of the United States.
