SOUTH CAROLINA: A man was arrested in Whitfield County after he was found to be driving a truck full of illegal medications and other items in what sheriff’s official’s said.
Diego Fernando Ocampo-Lasso, 49, of Acworth, was arrested after he failed to stop the E450 box truck he was driving south on I-75 at a weigh station in Catoosa County. An officer with the state Department of Public Safety Motor Carrier Compliance Division pursued the truck and stopped it in Whitfield County, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.
The truck was inspected and a large number of pharmaceutical items valued at several thousand dollars were found, the release said. The items included pain pills, prescription medications such as birth control, Viagra and antibiotics, and other items commonly found in drug stores like ointments or pacifiers, Capt. Rick Swiney with the sheriff’s office said. The items are believed to have been smuggled into the country from Mexico. All of the items were manufactured in other countries and are not approved to be sold or distributed in the U.S., the release said.
The state officer contacted the sheriff’s narcotics unit and a joint investigation was started, the release said. It was found that Ocampo-Lasso was delivering the products to different businesses in Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina.
Swiney said they are still investigating how many and what businesses were involved, including whether any of the businesses are in the Whitfield County area.
Officials do not believe this is Ocampo-Lasso’s first involvement with distributing illegal items into the states.
Officials also found $10,000 in cash on Ocampo-Lasso. He is charged with unlawful practice of a pharmacy without a license, sale/distribution/possession of dangerous drugs and failure to register as a drug distributor. An immigration hold has been placed on him by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is assisting in the investigation. Swiney said more arrests are possible.
