Federal prosecutors have requested a Simpson County pharmacy owner and his wife be sent to prison for numerous crimes related to the business, including the theft of drugs from the pharmacy.

Joseph Huff, 46, owner of Franklin Pharmacy, and Jennifer Huff, 46, will be sentenced May 1 in U.S. District Court.

Joseph Huff pleaded guilty last year to 12 counts of health care fraud and one count each of theft of medical products, conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances, aggravated identity theft and making false statements.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Ansari filed a sentencing memorandum arguing for Joseph Huff to serve four years in prison.

Federal court records established that Joseph and Jennifer Huff conspired to divert thousands of oxycodone and hydrocodone pills from the pharmacy between May 2, 2020, and Jan. 17, 2023, prior to the drugs being made available for retail sale.

Jennifer Huff then sold the the drugs herself or traded them in exchange for other narcotics, court records show.

Ansari’s memorandum noted that this occurred amidst an “opioid epidemic raging across America.”

“(Joseph) Huff also filed a false police report in order to hide the unlawful drug distribution from his pharmacy,” Ansari said in the filing. “This false report wasted valuable public resources and could have led to innocent people being charged with a crime they did not commit.”

The health care fraud counts stem from findings that Joseph Huff fraudulently billed Kentucky Medicaid and other benefit programs for prescriptions that weren’t filled, for brand name drugs when patients received generic brands and used another practitioner’s name to fill prescriptions for his wife.

Ansari’s memorandum contrasted the illegal conduct with Huff’s lack of prior criminal history, his acceptance of responsibility early in the investigation and his service as a pharmacy owner who also had to contend with his wife’s addiction.

Jennifer Huff has pleaded guilty to charges of theft of medical products, conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances and two counts of health care fraud.

Ansari filed a sentencing memorandum recommending a three-year prison sentence for Jennifer Huff in order to protect the public, promote respect for the law and provide just punishment.

Ansari noted that the theft of the drugs from the pharmacy “created an extreme danger to the public,” while juxtaposing that conduct with Jennifer Huff’s absence of criminal history, her service teaching classes to prisoners and her development of an opiate addiction after giving birth.

Plea agreements entered in the case recommended that both people serve staggered sentences so that they are not incarcerated at the same time.

Prosecutors will request that Joseph Huff will pay $17,518.19 in restitution and that Jennifer Huff will pay $5,730.42 in restitution, with the money going largely to insurers that were defrauded.