He Distributed More Than 25,000 Opioid Pills Illegally. Now, He's Headed To Prison.

A Michigan pharmacist who illegally distributed more than 25,000 dosage units is headed to federal prison for seven years.

The United States Attorney's Office in the eastern district of Michigan announced this week that Yousef Kosho, 44, would be headed to prison for close to a decade.

According to court documents, Kosho operated Great Health Pharmacy in Madison Heights, Michigan, where he distributed 25,253 dosage units of Schedule II controlled substances including Oxycodone HCl, Oxymorphone HCl, Oxycodone-Acetaminophen, Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen and more than 200,000 milliliters of Schedule V controlled substance Promethazine with Codeine.

Court records state that Kosho distributed the drugs outside of the workplace and in no relation to medical needs.

According to court records, Kosho would fill prescriptions for patient recruiters, including co-defendant Omar Madison, while taking in cash payments.

Sometimes, Kosho gave out prescriptions to people who never visited the pharmacy, feds say. At times, Kosho sold entire pharmacy stock bottles of controlled substances to Madison.

“This pharmacist was spreading poison in our community instead of dispensing medicine and providing sound medical advice,” stated U.S. Attorney Ison. “My office will continue to investigate and prosecute medical professionals who abuse their licenses by selling drugs to satisfy their greed.”

Kosho was also ordered to forfeit approximately $1.2 million in cash that federal agents seized.

Madison, meanwhile, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison.