A federal jury in the Southern District of Texas convicted a Texas pharmacist after a retrial for unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances at a now-shuttered pharmacy. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Hieu “Tom” Truong, 60, of Houston, was the pharmacist-in-charge at S&S Pharmacy in Houston. In just 18 months, Truong and his accomplices unlawfully distributed over 750,000 doses of controlled substances, including over 500,000 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills. Trial evidence showed that S&S Pharmacy unlawfully dispensed controlled substances in bulk for cash, based on forged prescriptions brought in by street-level drug dealers. The jury convicted Truong of two counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances. Truong was originally convicted at trial in May 2022 and was granted a new trial due to a change in the law following the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Ruan. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 23 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
