Omar Thomas Wala, 35, of Hialeah, and Vienna Cavanaugh, 33, of North Miami, were sentenced Tuesday to 90 months and 26 months in prison, respectively, for conspiring to produce and sell counterfeit drugs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Kentucky announced.
According to the department, Wala and Cavanaugh collaborated with co-conspirators Michael Basalyga, Reina Chirinos de Urena, and Philbert Campbell to manufacture and distribute counterfeit alprazolam, known by the brand name Xanax.
As part of the scheme, Wala, Cavanaugh, and their associates produced pills that mimicked real tablets, stamped with authentic-looking markings but containing other substances, such as clonazolam and etizolam, intended to replicate alprazolam’s effects, the department stated.
The conspiracy involved selling the counterfeit drugs to known customers and under pseudonyms on darknet marketplaces, with buyers across the U.S., including in Kentucky, paying with cryptocurrency, the department reported.