Shirley Woman Arrested for Selling Black Market Weight-Loss Drugs on Social Media
Shirley Woman Arrested for Selling Black Market Weight-Loss Drugs on Social Media
A Shirley woman has been arrested on federal charges for selling black market and misbranded weight-loss drugs, including Ozempic, Mesofrance, and Acxion, on her social media feed. The illegal operation led to at least one customer developing lesions from a tainted dose, according to Manhattan federal prosecutors.
Isis Navarro Reyes, 36, who is not licensed to prescribe pharmaceuticals, allegedly purchased the weight-loss drugs from Central and South America and sold them on TikTok from her Suffolk County home. From November 2022 to January 2024, Reyes posted video ads for the drugs, provided instructions on how to inject them, and offered her encrypted messaging app for customers to place orders.
In a disturbing incident, a woman from White Plains ordered Mesofrance from Reyes and developed lesions after 28 injections. The New York Department of Health found that the remaining doses were contaminated with the same bacteria that caused the woman’s infection.
Federal investigators conducted a sting operation and purchased Ozempic from Reyes using the Zelle payment app. Reyes was arrested on Wednesday and charged with smuggling, receiving misbranded drugs in interstate commerce, and dispensing misbranded drugs, among other charges. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams warned the public about the dangers of purchasing weight-loss drugs from unauthorized sources, stating, “Reyes’s alleged unlawful dispensing of these drugs caused significant, life-threatening injuries to some victims and put all of her victims in harm’s way.”
Reyes was expected to be arraigned on Wednesday, and her lawyer, Zawadi Baharanyi, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
