‘Pill-mill’ operation gets Mableton pharmacist over 15 years 

A former pharmacist, Thomas Ukoshovbera A. Gbenedio, who was accused of operating a ‘pill mill’ in Mableton and trying to flee the country, has been sentenced. Gbenedio will serve 15 years and eight months in prison for illegally supplying his customers with prescription medicine.

After a two-week trial, a Cobb County jury convicted Gbenedio of 70 counts of illegally dispensing and distributing controlled substances and one count of refusing an administrative inspection warrant.

After the jury announced its verdict in October 2021, Gbenedio was ordered to report to probation for location monitoring. 

Instead, Gbenedio tried to flee the country and was arrested at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport by U.S. Marshals.

After being captured, he was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison. Upon completion of his prison sentence, he will serve three years of supervised release. Gbenedio was also ordered to pay a $200,000 fine.

An investigation into Gbenedio, 72, began after the Georgia Drug and Narcotics Agency visited his Better Way Pharmacy in Mableton to conduct a routine inspection of his facility. 

Information uncovered during that visit revealed that from 2014 to 2016, many of Gbenedio’s customers were driving from different states, like Kentucky and Alabama, to his pharmacy to buy large quantities of addictive opioids like oxycodone. They discovered that several prescriptions Gbenedio was filling were not real. While filling some of these illegal prescriptions, Gbenedio was charging some of his customers up to $1,000.

 In discussing  Gbenedio, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said, “His greed exacerbated the opioid epidemic that continues to plague our community.”