Sentencing postponed in drug case involving Internet prescriptions

Friday, Jan. 28, 2005 | 10:57 a.m.

The sentencing of a Las Vegas man who distributed prescription drugs over the Internet this morning was postponed to March 4.

There were two reasons cited for the delay in sentencing 46-year-old Christian Frederic Finze. One is that he is suffering from an unspecified medical condition and needs treatment, court officials said. A growth slightly larger than a softball could be his seen on his left elbow in court and he was in a wheelchair.

Federal Judge Philip Pro said he was also granting the request to delay sentencing because he needed more time to consider how the sentencing might be affected by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, The United States v. Booker. In that ruling the nation's high court found that federal sentencing guidelines sometimes violated a convicted person's 6th Amendment right to a trial by jury.

In late October, a federal jury had found Finze guilty of 17 felony counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, several drug offenses and money laundering.

The jury found him guilty of importing drugs from Germany and selling them to U.S. residents without valid prescriptions for the drugs.

Finze operated a business called Vinci-Online.com and Vinci American Ltd. The case was built upon the work of an undercover agent with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who allegedly bought the drugs from Finze while posing as a pharmaceutical buyer.

One of Finze's employees, Joan Davis, was also indicted with Finze in December 2002 when the original charges were filed. Davis later pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and was sentenced to 37 months in prison. She testified against Finze during his trial.