Ex-Florida federal agent headed to prison for role as inside man in illegal drug trafficking scheme
FLORIDA - A former federal special agent was sentenced to prison for his involvement in an illegal drug trafficking ring involving patients, pharmacies, and medical clinics in Florida, the Department of Justice said.
Alberico Ahias Crespo, 48, who was part of the South Florida Health Care Strike Force was sentenced to 97 months in prison for helping orchestrate an illegal drug scheme.
Crespo was a special agent with the Department of Health and Human Services who worked with prosecutors and federal investigators to combat healthcare fraud and healthcare-related narcotics trafficking.
From 2016 to 2020 Crespo protected and advanced a multi-year oxycodone trafficking scheme and purposefully obstructed federal healthcare fraud investigations that he himself was involved in.
Crespo worked with three "patient recruiters" who sent patients to selected medical clinics to get oxycodone prescriptions the patient did not need.
The patient would then fill the prescriptions at pharmacies selected by the recruiters and sell the oxycodone pills at a markup price to a third-party "street dealer."
The patients would give the recruiters the drugs in exchange for money, according to the DOJ.
One of the recruiters, Jorge Diaz Gutierrez, was close friends with Crespo and also a criminal target of the Strike Force. Crespo monitored Strike Force investigations involving Diaz Guiterrez, accessing information, and disclosed information to his friend.
Crespo also coached Diaz Gutierrez on how to lie to investigators and tamper with evidence.