BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A California man has pleaded guilty in connection to the high-value theft of pharmaceutical drugs from a Glasgow-based distributor, according to U.S. District Court records.
Isaac Newman, 29, entered a guilty plea Thursday to conspiring to commit theft of medical products and conspiring to distribute controlled substances. The charges stem from the theft of promethazine with codeine, a prescription medication often abused for its euphoric effects.
Newman is one of three California residents indicted in November following an investigation into the theft of 288 bottles of promethazine from Richie Pharmacal, a Glasgow pharmaceutical distributor. Authorities estimate the stolen medications had a street value of over $644,000.
According to court documents, the scheme unfolded between July 9 and October 18, 2023. On October 17, police in Utah stopped a vehicle carrying Newman and co-defendant Sarah D’Auria, discovering 14 boxes of the stolen drugs and a backpack containing $30,000 to $40,000 in cash.
Investigators linked the theft to a deceptive delivery on October 14, when a suspect posed as a company employee and redirected a drug shipment into a fake Richie Pharmacal truck, which was later revealed to be a rental vehicle with a phony logo.
Authorities used traffic and surveillance cameras to trace the movements of two rental vehicles—one linked to D’Auria and the other to a third co-defendant, Robert Newman, who has pleaded not guilty.
The DEA affidavit noted that shipping labels had been torn from the boxes to conceal their origin, reinforcing the evidence of an organized theft conspiracy.
While Isaac Newman faces up to 16 years in prison, federal prosecutors are reportedly seeking a sentence at the lower end of federal guidelines. Co-defendant D’Auria has also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
