A Miami man has pleaded guilty to federal charges of participating in a South Florida oxycodone trafficking operation in which people were paid to obtain medically unnecessary prescriptions that were filled at a Broward County pharmacy, allowing thousands of powerful painkillers to be diverted for resale on the streets.
Jose Llerena, 49, admitted that he used prescriptions issued in other people’s names to obtain oxycodone from Striderite Pharmacy, where pharmacist and owner Olushola Yusuf continued supplying the medication despite obvious warning signs that the pills were being diverted for illegal distribution.
The operation was part of a broader conspiracy involving more than 87,000 oxycodone pills, according to federal prosecutors. Llerena was personally responsible for distributing 3,735 tablets of 30-milligram oxycodone, a potent prescription opioid that has long been a target of illegal drug trafficking…