IOWA CITY (AP) — An Iowa insurance agent who started a side business selling unapproved pills from India to counteract erectile dysfunction will serve two months behind bars and forfeit $23,000 in profits, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Sioux City resident David Kempema's sentence, issued by U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett on Tuesday, was less than the 10 to 14 months prosecutors sought and federal guidelines recommended.
Under a deal with prosecutors, Kempema, 51, pleaded guilty in November to one count of trafficking misbranded drugs with intent to defraud.
Court records show Kempema bought two types of erectile dysfunction pills from India that had not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and marketed them on the Internet as Viagra and Cialis between 2009 and 2011.
Prosecutors said he shipped the drugs using a fake return address from Costa Rica to cover up his involvement and resumed selling the pills weeks after federal agents raided his business in 2010.
Kempema acknowledged selling more than 3,700 pills to 95 customers and agreed to forfeit $23,000, which is expected to go to drugmakers Pfizer Inc., Eli Lilly and Co. and three customers.
Kempema operates DJK Financial Services, and his Iowa license to sell insurance and annuities has been revoked, his lawyer, Douglas Roehrich, said in a court filing.
Kempema started selling pills for extra income and initially believed the sales were legal, because he bought the pills online using his credit card and advertised them in public, Roehrich said.
In asking for a reduced sentence, Roehrich argued that if Kempema stopped selling pills after the 2010 raid, he might not have been charged. Plus, he said, Kempema had cooperated with prosecutors since.
Prosecutors said in court documents that customers did not report physical harm from the pills, Vipogra-100 and V-Tada 20. Kempema did not ship the pills with directions and does not have a medical background.
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