Long Island, NY (TCD) — A woman is facing federal charges for allegedly purchasing the wrong brand of weight loss medication, Ozempic, from overseas and selling it to her TikTok followers without a license.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced Wednesday, May 1, that Isis Navarro Reyes, who goes by the name Beraly Navarro, was charged with one count of smuggling and one count of misbranded drugs in interstate commerce. It was announced that he was being charged with receipt and delivery accordingly. She faces three counts of dispensing prescription drugs without a prescription and one count of conspiracy to introduce and deliver misbranded drugs in interstate commerce. If she is found guilty of the smuggling charges, Reyes faces up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors alleged that between November 2022 and approximately January 2024, Reyes “marketed, marketed and marketed various misbranded prescription weight loss medications” to his followers on social media, including Ozempic, Mesofrance and Axcion. Reyes reportedly purchased the drug in Central and South America before selling it online, but the FDA has not approved the drug for sale in the United States. Reyes was arrested on May 1.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Reyes' alleged crimes “left some of the victims with serious, life-threatening injuries and posed a risk to all of them.”
Reyes reportedly posted many videos on TikTok from approximately November 2022 to November 2023. In her videos, Reyes reportedly discussed weight loss drugs, telling viewers how often to use them and explaining how to take or inject them. She reportedly spoke about her own experience, including her side effects and results.
In the video, Reyes instructed viewers to contact him “via an encrypted messaging application on their cellphones” to order drugs, according to prosecutors.
In July 2023, one of Reyes' victims began developing lesions from the mesophagus and reportedly told the defendant about the injuries. The U.S. Attorney's Office said the victim's doctor diagnosed him with an abscess abscess infection, which commonly occurs due to contamination of drugs, medicines and medical devices with the abscess bacteria.
The New York Department of Health tested one of Reyes' Mesofrance vials and found it contained Mycobacterium abscessus, a “rapidly growing, multi-drug-resistant, non-tuberculous species of mycobacteria.”
Prosecutors said a law enforcement officer went undercover in December 2023 and sent a message to Reyes. The two reportedly exchanged messages about Ozempic, which Reyes sold, from December 2023 to January 2024. Last January, an undercover officer paid Reyes $375 through Zelle, and Reyes sent police to Ozempic even though he didn't have a prescription.
The undercover agent received a package in Manhattan on Jan. 12, prosecutors said. It reportedly contained “what is believed to be Ozempic” inside. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, “All labels affixed to Ozempic on the UC parcels were in Spanish, in violation of FDA regulations.”
“Recently, there has been a surge of public interest in semaglutide and weight loss drugs, and criminals have attempted to exploit this interest for their own purposes,” Williams said. “This is the first trademark misuse and abuse complaint filed in relation to Ozempic. “Reyes will be held accountable for the tampering charges,” he said. “For her actions, criminals should think twice before selling weight loss drugs without a license.”
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