A Rockingham man pleaded guilty in federal court Monday for his part of an online e-commerce website that sold illegal drugs to customers nationwide.
Adam Meland, 45, pled guilty to introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce. Leonidas Paul, 39, previously pled guilty to the same charge for his involvement in the online drug sales.
Mark James Meland, also of Rockingham, was charged by criminal complaint in September 2023 for creating and operating the website MadisonJamesResearchChems.com. The online retail store illegally sold FDA-regulated drugs, including drugs commonly prescribed for weight loss, diabetes, erectile disfunction, and narcolepsy. M. Meland was charged with introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce and money laundering and faced more than 20 years in prison.
According to court documents and evidence presented in court, M. Meland used his website MadisonJamesResearchChems.com to sell a variety of products that contained well-known active pharmaceutical ingredients.
M. Meland obtained the pharmaceutical ingredients from China and other overseas suppliers. He employed workers to mix the chemicals with cutting agents and then repackage the products into capsules, bottles, and vials to fulfil website orders. M. Meland used his Rockingham business, Copy Proz, to create logos and labels for his website products and then ship them to customers nationwide.
Neither M. Meland, his co-conspirators, or his businesses were registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to engage in the manufacturing or processing of drugs, nor were they practitioners licensed by law to administer prescription drugs.
Many of the products sold on M. Meland’s website contained labels that did not have adequate directions for use and were false or misleading (such as stating the product was “not for human consumption”). Other drugs marketed on the website lacked requisite approval from the FDA to be lawfully marketed in the United States.
A search of M. Meland’s Copy Proz business and adjacent business suites in Rockingham resulted in the seizure of hundreds of bags of capsules, as well as dozens of bottles of liquids labeled as containing steroids and testosterone, both controlled substances (photographs attached). More than $150,000 in cash was seized along with numerous illegal firearms.
M. Meland died in February 2024, before the resolution of his criminal case. Paul was sentenced on March 6, to six months’ probation for his role working for M. Meland and operating a spin-off website LP3Health.com, which sold the same products as MadisonJamesResearchChems.com. A. Meland pled guilty for his role in assisting M. Meland run the online website. He is still awaiting sentencing and faces up to three years in prison.
Daniel P. Bubar, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after US Magistrate Judge Robert B. Jones, Jr. accepted the plea. The Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations is investigating the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Haughton is prosecuting the case.
Be the first to comment