CEDAR PARK, Texas — A Cedar Park woman was sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to smuggling a rendered drug into the United States and distributing it to pet owners over several years.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Oregon, court documents revealed that 37-year-old Nicole Randall used fake names to bring the drug into the country between February 2020 and May 2022.
Randall concealed the drug, GS-441524, by pretending it was face masks, pet shampoo, beauty products and other similar products.
She would then use a Facebook group to defraud and mislead users by diagnosing their cats with feline infectious peritonitis, and would then prescribe GS-441524, despite having no veterinary or prescriber licenses.
In 2021, an agent joined the Facebook group and shared photos of a healthy cat. The cat was examined by a licensed veterinarian before the group recommended administering GS-441524. Randall then asked the agent for a payment through PayPal, Zelle or CashApp without mentioning any cat medicine in the payment.
The following summer, roughly 30 boxes of glass vials containing the drug were found in Randall’s Cedar Park home. Further investigation revealed that more than 58,000 liquid vials and more than 236,000 pills of the drug were distributed by Randall between July 2020 and June 2022.
In 2024, Randall was charged with “introducing an altered drug into interstate commerce.” Investigators also determined the scheme was highly profitable.
As a result, Randall pleaded guilty and agreed to give up about $4 million worth of possessions and assets, including a Tesla, four properties and 10 financial accounts.