Pharmacist found guilty of conducting ‘pill mill’

GULFPORT — A federal jury has found pharmacist Nick Tran guilty on all 24 counts in his second trial on allegations of conspiring to dispense controlled substances outside the scope of professional practice.

U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. yesterday ordered marshals to take the 42-year-old Tran into custody. The Sun Herald reports the judge set sentencing for Sept. 8 at 9 a.m.

Tran was the only one of four defendants who refused to accept a plea agreement in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s “pill mill” investigation. His pharmacy was in the same building as the Family Medical Center in Biloxi, where the prescriptions were written.

A jury in March found Tran not guilty on 48 of 59 counts. The jury was deadlocked on 11 counts. The government obtained a new indictment including counts on 22 prescriptions.