Pair convicted in pharmacy fire bomb plot to be sentenced

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A Nebraska pharmacist and a Maryland drug dealer could each face a decade or more in prison when they are sentenced for a convoluted plot to firebomb a competing pharmacy so they could divert more prescription narcotics to the black market.

William Burgamy, of Hanover, Maryland, and Hyrum Wilson of Auburn, Nebraska, each pleaded guilty to their respective roles in the conspiracy earlier this year in federal court in Virginia.

Federal agents arrested Burgamy in April and charged him with running a website on the internet black market called NeverPressedRx that sold hundreds of thousands dollars' worth of illicit drugs.

After his arrest, authorities discovered the firebomb plot to destroy the rival pharmacy so that Wilson's operation, Hyrum’s Family Value Pharmacy, could increase its business. The pair figured that the increased volume would allow them to divert more drugs to the black market without attracting regulators' scrutiny.

Prosecutors are seeking a 15-year term for Burgamy and 11 years for Wilson. Defense lawyers are requesting shorter terms.

Their sentencing hearings are scheduled for Friday morning in Alexandria, a Virginia suburb of the nation's capital.