The Robert E. Coyle Federal Courthouse in Downtown Fresno. File photo

Kelo White, a 44-year-old Fresno man, was sentenced to seven years and six months in federal prison for distributing oxycodone and hydrocodone pills, acting U.S. Attorney Kimberly A. Sanchez announced Monday. 

Court records show that White and his co-defendant, 56-year-old Donald Ray Pierre, illegally obtained over 450,000 opioid pills between 2014 and 2018 using forged prescriptions. White was responsible for over 250,000 of those pills. 

The prescriptions appeared to be from over 10 doctors whose signatures had been forged.

The pills were filled by 49-year-old Ifeanyi Vincent Ntukogu, a Madera pharmacist who took part in the scheme by looking at each prescription to reduce the likelihood of deduction by regulators. Ntukogu rejected scripts he believed would raise red flags like those written by certain doctors or for individuals frequenting multiple pharmacies.

Ntukogu was paid in cash for his role. According to prosecutors, White and Pierre sold the pills for a large profit. 

Pierre was sentenced in 2020 to nine years and four months in prison. Ntukogu was sentenced in November 2024 to seven years and three months.

The case was part of the DOJ’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge, which specializes in high-level opioid trafficking operations.