Philadelphia Pill Mill Ringleader Sentenced to Over Nine Years in Prison

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced today that Derrick Parks, 47, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 110 months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised release by U.S. District Court Judge Joel H. Slomsky.  Parks has a prior criminal record, including illegal possession of a firearm.

From March to October 2012, the defendant was the ringleader of a group that conspired to illegally obtain oxycodone pills to sell on the street.  Parks secured blank prescription pads from a co-conspirator who worked in a medical office, wrote out false prescriptions for oxycodone, and paid various people to fill the prescriptions in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Parks would then collect all the pills for distribution. During the months that the illegal distribution ring was operating, Parks obtained over 9,500 oxycodone pills.

“My Office is focused on targeting the worst, most dangerous offenders and getting them off the streets,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain.  “In this case, a defendant who had previously been convicted of multiple offenses decided to continue to engage in illegal activity – and this time he concocted a scheme that put thousands of pills on the streets of Philadelphia in the midst of the ongoing opioid epidemic.  I’m grateful that the Judge imposed a sentence that will keep the defendant out of our community for many years.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Abrams.