Chinatown herb shop owner allegedly sold banned drugs
he owner of a San Francisco herb shop faces multiple felony charges after prosecutors say he funneled prescription and banned drugs through his Chinatown store.
The charges against 67-year-old Vi Thieu Binh are the result of an investigation that spanned over three years, and a search warrant that allegedly uncovered hundreds of products that were prescription-only, contaminated, counterfeit, mislabeled or barred by the Federal Drug Administration, according to the San Francisco district attorney’s office.
Binh’s store, Hue An Co., was flagged by the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations following a broader probe into “Anti Rheuma” capsules. The anti-inflammatory drugs are intended to treat rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, but the ingredients were removed from the U.S. market after the FDA deemed them unsafe or ineffective.
The investigation stemmed from an incident in November 2014, when a 73-year-old man was hospitalized after ingesting Anti Rheuma capsules. Prosecutors said the man purchased the pills from an unlicensed seller in Oakland.
As part of this investigation, FDA officials received information that Hue An Co. was also a potential seller of the capsules.
“Regulations on who can sell prescription drugs exist to protect consumers,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “In this case, someone became seriously ill as a result of acquiring drugs from an unlicensed seller.”
Special agents executed a search warrant at Binh’s store in January and seized nearly 600 products that were either illicit or prescription only, according to the district attorney’s office. Officials said Binh sold these types of drugs on multiple occasions between December 2016 and October 2017.
Gascón urged consumers to contact the Food and Drug Branch of the California Department of Public Health if they suspect a retailer is unlawfully selling prescription drugs.
Officials said consumers can spot an illegal retailer if the seller does not require a prescription from a doctor before completing the sale or fails to display a license to dispense prescription drugs.