VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A federal jury convicted a Virginia Beach man Thursday on charges of illegal possession of controlled substances.
According to the Department of Justice, on Aug. 18, 2021, Virginia Beach police stopped 59-year-old John Stuart Mancoll and found he was in possession of oxycodone and a stronger opioid called hydromorphone, or Dilaudid.
Mancoll reportedly told the officers that he had prescriptions for the drugs; however, the evidence at trial showed that the pills did not match any of his past prescriptions. Instead, the pills matched those of unused pills he told his patients to return, which he kept under his office desk, according to the DOJ.
After the traffic stop, police searched his medical practice and found at least five patient prescription bottles at the foot of his desk, missing in total of more than 100 oxycodone pills. At the trial, Mancoll testified that he believed someone planted pills in his prescription bottle found at the traffic stop.
Mancoll was convicted of possession of oxycodone and possession of hydromorphone. He faces up to two years in prison when sentenced on October 20.
