(Sioux City)– The President of a northwest Iowa livestock company has been sentenced in U-S District Court for selling misbranded prescription drugs to farmers for use in their livestock operations.
Becky Rus of Rock Valley, President of Livestock Concepts, Incorporated of Hawarden, had previously pled guilty to one count of introducing into interstate commerce misbranded prescription drugs…a misdemeanor.
Rus was sentenced to one year of probation; fined 25-thousand dollars; ordered to pay 50-thousand dollars in restitution to the Food and Drug Administration office of criminal investigation; and as part of a plea agreement, forfeited to the U-S Government 225-thousand dollars.
Livestock Concepts has pled guilty to one count of mail fraud…a felony. The corporation was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered not to sell prescription drugs during that time. Livestock Concepts was also fined 25-thousand dollars and ordered to pay 400-dollars in special assessments.
Court documents state that in April, 2002 a regulatory inspection was conducted by the F-D-A after the agency found residues of prescription drugs in slaughtered cattled owned by Rus’ stepson. The drugs were later traced to Livestock Concepts.
The documents also state Rus purchased and dispensed prescription drugs without veterinarian prescriptions after a vet that worked for another company she ran, Livestock Concepts Companion Animal Hospital in Harlan, resigned in March, 1999.
Livestock Concepts was also sited in court documents for providing false and forged documents to drug suppliers.
