DEA searches 3 E. Kentucky pharmacies, charges city councilman after witness’ ruse
The Drug Enforcement Agency searched three pharmacies in Eastern Kentucky and charged a city councilman after help from a “cooperating witness” and recorded phone calls, according to court records.
Calvin Manis, a Barbourville city councilman who has been the target of previous investigations, was arrested and charged with illegal distribution of controlled substances and conspiracy to illegally distribute controlled substances, according to court documents. Manis is the owner and chief pharmacist at Parkway Pharmacy in Barbourville, according to his Facebook page.
DEA spokesman Kevin McWilliams confirmed Parkway was one of the three pharmacies searched Wednesday.
Manis, 73, illegally gave a cooperating witness prescription drugs, according to an affidavit that was unsealed Thursday. A federal agent said Manis filled prescriptions for people who the cooperating witness “sponsored.” The cooperating witness would help the people he sponsored get the medications, and in return, they would give the witness some or all of the prescription drugs.
The affidavit alleged that Manis met the cooperating witness at his pharmacy outside business hours to fill prescriptions. It also alleged that Manis would fill prescriptions without the presence of the person for whom they were written.
Recorded phone calls between the cooperating witness and Manis indicated that Manis knew the DEA was paying attention to a doctor from Gateway Medical in Tennessee who had been writing some of the prescriptions, according to court records.
Dr. Hemal Mehta, the doctor from Tennessee, was indicted in 2019 for conspiring to unlawfully distribute controlled substances and unlawfully distributing controlled substances, according to the affidavit.
Anthony Janutolo, a drug task force officer, said in the affidavit that Manis “was distributing controlled substances knowing that they were being diverted.” Janutolo also said Manis had apparent knowledge of the cooperating witness’ sponsorship operation.
Investigators said on Dec. 21, 2019, they watched as the cooperating witness got oxycodone and oxymorphone prescriptions filled by a Parkway employee even though they were written for someone else, according to the affidavit.
Manis appeared in federal court via teleconference Thursday. Magistrate Judge Hanly A. Ingram ordered him held pending a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday, court records show.
The other two pharmacies searched were Plaza Drug of London and Stephanie’s Down Home Pharmacy in Corbin, McWilliams said. No arrests were made at those pharmacies, he said.
Manis has previous experience with federal investigations. In 2008, he was indicted on charges of selling or trading prescription drug samples, selling guns to a convicted felon, failing to properly report gun sales, and failing to keep proper records of sales.
The indictment was dismissed in a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty to one count of misbranding drugs and was sentenced to three years probation and a $10,000 fine, according to court records.
Manis’ plea agreement said that during an audit at his pharmacy in August 2004, a staffer with the Food and Drug Administration found 1,000 to 2,000 cholesterol pills in a ziplock bag. The pills were not properly separated from other prescription drugs, so they were considered misbranded under the law, the agreement said.
Manis also pleaded guilty for failing to properly maintain records of gun sales in a separate case, according to court records. In a September 2006 search at Manis’ pharmacy, a book listing Manis’ gun sales was not at the store as required, according to court records.
Federal prosecutors argued that Manis was trying to hide that he’d sold 41 guns to a person he knew was a felon.
He was sentenced to 12 months in jail and a $15,000 fine in January 2009, which he appealed, but the appeals court upheld his sentence, according to court records.
Manis served on the Barbourville City Council for 18 years before he lost a re-election bid in 2008, according to the Times-Tribune in Corbin. He is currently a city councilman again, according to the city of Barbourville’s website.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 1:33 PM.