KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City man has been charged with possessing more than 35,000 prescription pills from India and Thailand and distributing them throughout the United States.
According to a release from Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd, Brian S. Hoskins, 29, has been charged with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute it and acting as a wholesale drug distributor without a license.
Zahnd said the charges were filed March 2, following an extensive investigation by officers with the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department, Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Border Patrol, and the Department of Homeland Security.
According to court documents, in June 2014, investigators with the Border Patrol seized a package containing a large amount of controlled substances at JFK Airport. The parcel was being shipped from India to Hoskins at a downtown Kansas City post office.
On July 7, 2014, Kansas City Police Department officers were conducting surveillance at the post office when Hoskins retrieved six parcels and placed them in his backpack. After being approached by an officer, Hoskins gave consent to the officer to search the backpack, which revealed approximately 8400 prescription pills shipped from India.
Court documents indicate Hoskins spent approximately six years in Bangkok, where he gained contacts to ship prescription pills to the United States. After returning to the United States, Hoskins used Skype and Google to contact pill distributors in India and Thailand, giving them addresses to ship the pills to him in the United States.
Hoskins would then repackage the pills at his Platte County apartment to mail throughout the United States. A search of Hoskins’ bedroom revealed approximately 20,000 pills along with various shipping supplies. Other packages intercepted by investigators contained thousands of more pills.
Hoskins is being held in the Platte County jail in lieu of a $100,000 cash bond. He is charged with one count of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, and acting as a wholesale drug distributor without a license. If convicted of all counts, he faces up to 36 years in prison.
