Detroit pharmacist sentenced to 8 years in prison for illegally distributing opioids

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A Detroit pharmacist received an eight-year prison sentence for distributing hundreds of thousands of opioid doses that weren't medically necessary.

Abidoun Fabode, 57, co-owned Friendz Pharmacy. Federal authorities said he dispensed more than 245,080 dosages of controlled substances, including oxycodone and oxymorphone, to patient recruiters who had doctors write them unneeded prescriptions. One of those doctors worked at Friendz and would see patients for only a few minutes before writing scripts for the drugs, feds said.

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Fabode knew the prescriptions weren't legitimate but still provided the pills in exchange for more than $1,895,000 in cash, authorities said.

The pills were later resold on the street. They carried a conservative estimated wholesale street value of $7 million, feds said.

This scheme went on for three years.

Fabode, who is from Chesterfield, was convicted by a jury in 2019, but his sentencing was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"While the vast majority of pharmacists and health care providers administer legitimate care, some choose to violate the law and betray the public trust. Mr. Fabode’s sentence should serve as a reminder to health care professionals that DEA and our law enforcement partners will investigate all forms of drug law violations," said DEA Special Agent in Charge Keith Martin.