A Venezuelan who had been living in Costa Rica will spend the next 21 months in federal prison and then be deported for his role in smuggling counterfeit Viagra pills, painkillers and other prescription drugs into the United States.

U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose imposed that sentence Thursday on Daniel Sanchez, 40, who worked for a Costa Rican online pharmacy called CDR Marketing in arranging to have the misbranded drugs imported from India to two U.S. re-shippers, identified as Neil Russell of Pittsburgh and Manuel Pena of Houston.

Both are under indictment in Pittsburgh, along with a woman identified as the Indian supplier, Paridhi Sharma; the owners of CDR Marketing, Miguel Arias and Luis Guillermo Chaves; and several others, including Zhenya Nikolova, the owner of another Costa Rican online pharmacy called Alliance Pharmacy. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the IRS and other agencies said Mr. Sanchez, working out of the CDR call center in Costa Rica, arranged for Ms. Sharma to send counterfeit Viagra and Cialis pills, the painkiller Tramadol and other drugs to various post-office boxes in Pittsburgh controlled by Mr. Russell and post office boxes in Houston controlled by Mr. Pena.

Mr. Russell, who lives on the South Side, and Mr. Pena then repackaged the pills and shipped them to customers across the United States who had placed orders with the two pharmacies, according to federal agents. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Dillon said the customers were led to believe that the drugs were approved by the FDA, that the Viagra and Cialis pills were genuine and that it was legal for CDR and Alliance to distribute them without a prescription.

Mr. Sanchez is the first member of the conspiracy to plead guilty and be sentenced. Speaking through a translator, he indicated he is cooperating with the government.

But he and his Miami lawyer, Bijan Parwaresch, also argued that he was a dupe for the CDR owners and took the job at the call center without realizing the scheme was going on. He said he got the job because of his good English skills.

"While working in that capacity, he was slowly recruited into this criminal activity," Mr. Parwaresch said in pre-sentence filings and reiterated in court.

Mr. Parwaresch also said that the thousands of customers in the U.S. who bought the drugs online are hardly “victims,” as the government describes them, because they knew they were buying medications without a prescription.

Judge Ambrose agreed that most customers likely knew they were skirting the law, but she denied Mr. Sanchez's request for probation.

"I consider it to be a serious crime," she said. 

The FDA said the case developed in 2013 after more than a hundred parcels were seized at John F. Kennedy International Airport, bound for Neil Russell at ARCAD Global LLC, an arcade business on East Carson Street on the South Side.

A search through e-mails among the conspirators revealed that Mr. Russell was a re-shipper for CDR and that Mr. Sanchez was essentially the facilitator of the scheme in getting the drugs from India and into the hands of U.S. customers.

Agents said that after Mr. Russell received his shipments from India, Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Chaves sent him a spreadsheet of orders to fill across the country from customers who had placed orders through CDR and Alliance.

Mr. Pena in Houston took over the re-shipping and distribution operation in 2013 after Mr. Russell stopped working with CDR, prosecutors said.

The ring was dismantled after an FDA agent in Pittsburgh ordered drugs from Alliance posing as "Jason Smith," a customer, and had the parcels delivered to an undercover post office box.

Mr. Sanchez was indicted separately in January and pleaded guilty in April. The others were indicted last month, although it’s not clear when they might be brought here for trial since all but Mr. Russell are out of the country. Mr. Russell’s lawyer, William Schmalzried, declined comment. 

Torsten Ove: tove@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1504.

First Published: October 30, 2015, 4:00 a.m.