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Federal Charges in Opioid Investigation Linked to Akron Deaths

photo of Jeff Sessions
NICK CASTELE
/
WCPN
Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks in Cleveland.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions traveled to Cleveland to announce a series of actions against people accused of illegally distributing opioids.

Credit US Attorney
Fujing Zheng AKA Gordon Jin
Credit US Attorney
Guanghua Zheng

The Justice Department obtained restraining orders to stop a doctor in Akron and one in Sandusky from writing prescriptions. They’re accused of improperly prescribing or selling opioids and other drugs.

Sessions says the government is also seeking damages against the doctors. "These injunctions, really temporary restraining orders, will stop immediately doctors from prescribing drugs, without waiting for, perhaps, a long-time criminal prosecution," Sessions says.  

Sessions also announced the indictments of two Chinese citizens who are accused of distributing fentanyl analogues around the world, including drugs that killed two people in Akron.
The attorney general said efforts against drug trafficking on the dark web have resulted in criminal charges and guilty pleas.