Cecil County Prescription Drug Dealer Sentenced to More Than Eight Years in Prison

BALTIMORE,—U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced David Graham, age 63, of Elkton, Maryland, today to 97 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Cecil County Sheriff Barry A. Janney, Sr.; and Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.
According to his plea agreement between 2008 and 2010, Graham was part of a conspiracy that distributed prescription drugs in and around Cecil County, Maryland. Graham and co-conspirator Matthew Ward paid individuals to go into doctors’ offices, obtain large prescriptions for oxycodone and other pills, and then sell many of the pills they obtained to Graham and Ward. Graham and Ward would then sell the pills to individual users.
Intercepted telephone communications made clear that Graham had numerous people obtaining pills for him from doctor’s offices and pharmacies. Many of these individuals were drug addicts who would sell Graham drugs to feed their addictions. Graham was not a drug user and was engaged in the enterprise to make money.
At the time of Graham’s arrest in November, 2010, a search was conducted at his residence. Law enforcement recovered $9,120 in cash, eight cellphones, and numerous prescription pills, including hundreds of oxycodone, morphine and Dilaudid pills. In addition, Graham possessed 17 firearms, including eight rifles, four shotguns, a revolver, a semi-automatic pistol, and a 12-gauge.
Graham admitted that between 2008 and 2010, the co-conspirators distributed approximately 1.4 million milligrams of oxycodone.
Co-defendant Matthew Earl Ward, age 33, of Elkton, Maryland, was previously sentenced to 10 years in prison. Ward was convicted after an eight day trial of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone and alprazolam. Thirteen other conspirators were also convicted and sentenced to between 18 months and eight years in prison
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the DEA, FBI, Cecil County Sheriff’s Office, and Maryland State Police for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Joshua Kaul and Mushtaq Gunja, who prosecuted this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.