By Shereen Siewert
A New York woman who sold abortion drugs through the mail to Wisconsin buyers including a Wood County man facing attempted homicide charges will spend two years on probation and pay $10,000 in fines.
Prosecutors say Ursula Wing, 42, used her mail-order jewelry website as a front for selling the drugs, which she obtained from an offshore pharmacy in India.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice news release, Wing sold Mifepristone and Misoprostol, drugs she smuggled into the country, but could not vouch for the safety of the product she was distributing.
Prosecutors say one of Wing’s customers is a Wood County man who slipped the drugs into his pregnant girlfriend’s drink in an alleged attempt to kill her unborn baby. Jeffrey Smith, of Grand Rapids, is facing first-degree attempted homicide charges in connection with the incident. The woman noticed an unusual taste in her drink and called police.
Smith’s trial in Marathon County Circuit Court is due to begin in December.
At Wing’s sentencing, Chief U.S. District Judge James Peterson said that Wing’s conduct created a danger to the public.
Judge Peterson also ordered Wing to forfeit $61,753, which represented the cost of the Mifepristone and Misoprostol pills that Wing sold from 2016 to 2018.
“Prescription drugs that are obtained illegally from online sources and then sold online to consumers can cause serious harm,” said Special Agent in Charge Lynda M. Burdelik, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Chicago Field Office. “We will continue to investigate and bring justice to those who place the public’s health at risk.”
