A Camden man was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for conspiring to distribute and selling oxycodone pills, including high 60 and 80 mg. dose pills, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Federal authorities said in a statement that Erick Bell, 49, of Camden, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb to an information charging him with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone and distributing and possessing with intent to distribute quantities of oxycodone.
Judge Bumb imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Bell admitted that on multiple occasions from January 2020 to March 2020, he worked as a middleman, connecting sellers who were diverting their own prescriptions and others with pill dealers, including Rocco DePoder of Gloucester City, New Jersey and others, to put oxycodone on the streets in and around Camden and Gloucester City.
Bell admitted that on Feb. 3, 2020, he obtained 160 80 mg. oxycodone pills from a conspirator and sold DePoder 60 of the pills for $25 each and 100 of the pills to another conspirator for $24 each.
Oxycodone is a Schedule II controlled substance – meaning that it has a high potential for abuse, a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions, and abuse of the drug may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.
DePoder was sentenced by Judge Bumb on Oct. 8, 2021, to 70 months in prison for his role in the scheme.