Charges vs man in Viagra case dropped

The federal court yesterday dismissed the case against a travel agency employee who was charged with trafficking 4,000 tablets of fake Viagra.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Alex R. Munson dropped the indictment against Dai Xiao Jun after the U.S. government moved to dismiss the case.

Munson ordered the U.S. Marshal’s Office to release Dai from its custody at the earliest possible time.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie Bowers said they asked for the dismissal because the available evidence and investigative results are no longer sufficient to proceed to trial.

The federal court’s recent ruling had left the prosecution with no other choice, but to move for the dismissal of the case.

In that ruling, Munson found unlawful the searches conducted by local and federal agents at the apartment of Dai in Garapan. Munson granted the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence obtained from the second and three searches and seizures at his apartment.

But the judge determined as lawful the first search that occurred in San Francisco, California, at a Customs and Border Protection Mail Facility where the fake Viagra was intercepted. Munson denied Dai’s motion to suppress the evidence taken from the first search in California.

Munson determined that the officers lacked probable cause for the second search and that there was no probable cause to issue the warrant.

Dai was charged with trafficking counterfeit goods. He was also charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute after federal agents seized from his apartment room two pounds of marijuana.

According to court papers filed by the U.S. government, Dai transported 4,000 counterfeit tablets of the prescription drug Viagra, bearing counterfeit manufacturer’s markings.

Viagra is an oral pill to treat impotence.

The prosecution alleged that on June 12, 2005, a package was intercepted at a mail facility in California by agents of the Customs and Border Protection. The package contained the alleged fake Viagra.

Defendant Dai and another person were listed as the authorized persons to receive mail at that address.

The prosecution alleged that on June 29, 2005 special agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Postal Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, CNMI Customs, and Department of Labor executed a controlled delivery of the mail package containing sham Viagra tablets to the Saipan U.S. Post Office.

The agents followed Dai and searched his apartment in Garapan where they allegedly recovered the sham Viagra tablets in the room and prescription bottles.

Dai, through counsel Robert Torres, asked the court to suppress and exclude evidence obtained from the illegal search and seizure at Dai’s apartment in Garapan.

Torres asserted that the entry by the agents was unlawful and the “protective sweep” search prior to the issuance of a warrant was conducted without a warrant; was overly broad in scope; and occurred with full knowledge by the government that a warrant was necessary.