A Binghamton man is facing federal charges for his involvement in a Bronx-based pill mill that is said to have illegally distributed mass amounts of the painkiller oxycodone. 71-year-old Theodore Johnson was among 24 people indicted last month by a federal grand jury in Manhattan. Johnson is accused of being a senior member of a 25-person crew that obtained illegal prescriptions from a Bronx clinic and secured the drugs at area pharmacies before they were sold on the streets. Johnson was originally arrested in early February at his home on Grand Boulevard in Binghamton on a federal warrant for felony narcotics trafficking conspiracy. At his arraignment in federal court he pleaded not guilty. The drug ring operated from January of 2011 to January of this year. Johnson is accused of giving members of the operation $300 for their “doctor visit” and referred members to a pharmacy to refill the prescription, and would then take the pills and sell them on the street. The drug ring allegedly sold 5.5 million oxycodone tablets with an estimated street value of $550 million. Johnson could receive up to twenty years in prison if convicted.
