CHICAGO — Federal agents say a Buffalo, NY, man mailed thousands of counterfeit prescription pills to people across the United States, including an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Chicago. Some of the pills contained the extremely deadly chemical fentanyl, while others contained ketamine, and still others contained no controlled substances at all, according to a federal complaint.
Investigators obtained U.S. Postal Service security footage that showed Edwin Batista mailing dozens of Priority Mail packages at a time from post offices around Buffalo, the complaint said. Agents who raided Batista’s storage unit allegedly recovered an estimated 100,000 pills.
The complaint said DEA agents began focusing on Batista during an investigation of three online pharmacies that were suspected of selling controlled substances without prescriptions: HealthcareShopy, Acetaminophenbutalbital, and BuyFioricetNow.
An agent in Chicago ordered 90 oxycodone pills from the Acetaminophenbutalbital site on October 21. A representative from the site contacted the agent, arranged to receive a $449 payment via Zelle, and then provided a USPS tracking number, the complaint said.
Video allegedly showed Batista mailing the package, which contained a vacuum-sealed bag of blue pills containing suspected ketamine, at a kiosk in Buffalo. He mailed about 30 similar envelopes at the same time, according to the complaint.
One day after placing the first order, an undercover agent placed another order for 180 oxycodone pills from HealthcareShopy, the complaint stated. This time, a company representative contacted the agent via WhatsApp to arrange a $500 payment via Zelle and provide the USPS tracking number.
Postal Service video allegedly shows Batista mailing the package along with 35 similar parcels from a Grand Island, New York, post office.
When that package arrived in Chicago, it contained green pills that tested negative for all controlled substances, officials said.
Federal agents in Chicago paid $2,700 via Zelle to the Acetaminophenbutalbital site for 530 oxycodone pills on November 2, the complaint said. When those packages arrived, they allegedly contained pills that tested positive for fentanyl and ketamine.
Investigators put Batista and his vehicle under surveillance, watching as he mailed 1,248 packages to addresses across the United States between December 11 and January 11, the complaint said.
They intercepted one package destined for North Carolina and found it contained 36 blister packs containing pills that tested positive for Carisoprodol, a powerful muscle relaxant and pain blocker.
Agents also saw Batista repeatedly entering and leaving a storage facility between November and January. They raided his storage unit on January 28 and seized a “significant amount of suspected narcotics” consistent with items sent to agents in Chicago, according to the federal complaint. Among the items agents confiscated during the raid were counterfeit Xanax, Adderall, and oxycodone.
The agent who wrote the complaint against Batista said investigators were still inventorying all of the seized materials, but she “believes” more than 100,000 pills were confiscated during the raid. Samples of those pills are being tested.
