FedEx charged with delivering drugs from illegal online pharmacies

On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted FedEx, accusing the shipping company of knowingly delivering controlled substances from illegal pharmacies.

"FedEx is accused of conspiring to distribute prescription drugs to people who never met with doctors — a violation of the Controlled Substances Act," NPR's Carrie Johnson said. According to USA Today, the indictment stated that FedEx knew for more than 10 years that these pharmacies used their services, having been warned by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and members of Congress. The company went ahead and set up special credit policies for the pharmacies so money wouldn’t be lost if the sites were shut down.

The indictment also shared stories from FedEx employees in Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, who told their managers they did not feel safe delivering packages of pills to parking lots, vacant homes, and schools, where carloads of people waited. On several occasions, drivers reported being stopped by people on the side of the road, looking for pills.

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In a statement, Patrick Fitzgerald, senior vice president of marketing and communications for FedEx, said, that there was no way the company could know the contents of all 10 million packages that are delivered every day. "We are a transportation company — we are not law enforcement," he said. "We have no interest in violating the privacy of our customers. We continue to stand ready and willing to support and assist law enforcement. We cannot, however, do the job of law enforcement ourselves."

Representatives from FedEx will appear in court July 29.