LUMBERTON, N.C. (WBTW) — For nearly six years, Derrick Atkinson allegedly used his position as a pharmaceutical drug sales representative to pump millions of opioids into the greater Houston area at marked-up prices, falsifying compliance regulations to hide their acts.
The Lumberton man was among a dozen people arrested last October in what the U.S. Department of Justice said was the largest operation of its kind — centered around the illegal distribution and sale of 70 million opioids with pills with a $1.3 billion street value.
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Atkinson, who faces up to 20 years for his role in the scheme, may be sentenced this June in U.S. District Court’s eastern North Carolina region, according to publicly available filings.
Federal authorities said Atkinson oversaw multiple Houston-area accounts for a pharmaceutical drug wholesaler based in Miami…