Garland Man Sentenced to 36 Months in Federal Prison for Possessing More Than $300,000 in Stolen Amoxicillin That was in Transit to Walgreens

DALLAS—Abdel Qader Saleh, of Garland, Texas, was sentenced yesterday afternoon by U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay to 36 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $48,000 in restitution following his guilty plea in June 2011 to one count of possessing goods stolen from an interstate shipment, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. Judge Lindsay ordered that Saleh, 38, surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on May 29, 2012.

According to documents filed in the case, in February 2010, Saleh possessed 28 cardboard boxes containing 8,746 bottles of amoxicillin, a prescription antibiotic drug, which had been stolen from an interstate cargo shipment in the Dallas area. The shipment had originated at a warehouse in Alsip, Illinois and was intended to be delivered to the Walgreens warehouse in Waxahachie, Texas. The stolen amoxicillin was discovered in a self-storage warehouse on W. Northwest Highway in Dallas by an employee of the storage center. The discovery was reported to federal law enforcement agents who obtained a search warrant and seized the stolen drugs.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Mark Penley and Jason D. Schall were in charge of the prosecution.