Former school board member Carter sentenced to 54 months in prison for drug, tax crimes

Greg Bailey, Gadsden Times
·2 min read
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Former Gadsden pharmacist and school board member Nathan Carter was sentenced to 54 months in prison Wednesday for drug distribution conspiracy and tax crimes.

The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Court Judge R. David Proctor in Birmingham, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona’s office.

Carter pleaded guilty July 18 to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances and three counts of filing false tax returns. He faced up to 20 years in prison on the drug charge and three years for each of the tax charges.

He also was ordered to forfeit $110,620 in illicit drug proceeds and pay $124,547 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid taxes.

According to his plea agreement in the case, Carter from 2015 to late 2021 conspired with others to distribute controlled substances such as hydrocodone and oxycodone.

Nathan Carter
Nathan Carter

Records showed that while serving as the pharmacist in charge of Gadsden’s Midtown Pharmacy from February 2018 to earlier this year, the pharmacy ordered roughly 80,000 more oxycodone pills than it dispensed to patients.

Carter admitted to diverting pills and selling them to drug distributors. He would take distributor bottles of medication to his home and break them down into plastic bags for resale.

He admitted earning about $450,000 from the operation, which he didn’t report on his income tax returns. A warrant search of his home uncovered more than $110,000 in cash.

Carter won the District 2 seat on the Gadsden City Board of Education in 2019, the first time members were elected, and ran unopposed last year. He resigned from the board less than a week after his guilty plea. Rita Smith was appointed in August to succeed him.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration and IRS investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney J.B. Ward prosecuted it.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Carlton Peeples, DEA Special Agent in Charge Brad Byerley and Acting Special Agent in Charge Demetrius Hardeman of IRS Criminal Investigation joined Escalona in announcing the sentence.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Former Gadsden school board member sentenced to prison