NEW York-based pharmacist, Dimitrios Lymberatos, is facing up to 40 years behind bars after allegedly posting cocaine to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent who was probing his store.
Acting US Attorney, Audrey Strauss, revealed that the 34-year-old pharmacist is now facing charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice for seeking to "interfere with the investigation through intimidation", NBC News reported.
Lymberatos's pharmacy came to the attention of Federal officials after a registration application to dispense controlled substances, which included inaccurate information about the supervising pharmacist.
Unable to dispense controlled drugs while the investigation was underway, Lymberatos recruited a private eye to run a background check on the lead agent, which led to him discovering her home address.
Around 26 May it is alleged that Lymberatos had a greeting card filled with small packets of cocaine sent from California to the DEA investigator's home in New York.
Prosecutors claimed that the pharmacist tracked the progress of the card more than 20 times before it arrived at her home.
Strauss said Lymberatos hoped to make the agent "fear for her physical safety and to create trouble for the investigator by causing her to come into possession of an illegal controlled substance".
"Lymberatos's misguided message was received loud and clear -- and he now faces the possibility of a lengthy prison term for his potentially harmful attempt to obstruct law enforcement," Strauss said.
DEA Special Agent in Charge, Raymond Donovan, described Lymberatos's actions as "completely unconscionable".
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