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Anton E. Pusztai in Australia and Anita Yates in Alabama not only met on the Internet, they also founf a love and business connection. Some, however, may call them luckier in love after their illegal Internet business landed them in jail.

After chatting online, Pusztai and Yates met in person in New York, and Pusztai later moved in with Yates in her Clanton, Ala., home. Through a Web site called Norfolk Men's Clinic at Viagra.au.com, the couple offered consumers prescription "lifestyle" drugs such as Viagra, Propecia, Celebrex and Xenical.

But their "virtual pharmacy," operated from Yates' home and a storefront in Clanton, was not licensed and consumers did not have valid prescriptions written by a licensed medical practitioner. In addition, customers were charged a fee for a non-existent medical consultation after they completed a health questionnaire and were told that a doctor had reviewed and approved it.

Pusztai and Yates hired employees throughout the world, and agents from the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) built a case against the conspirators with the help of law enforcement offices in Alabama, West Virginia, Australia, Romania and Germany.

In September 1999, Clanton police informed the FDA that Yates was bragging about making a lot of money selling drugs over the Internet, according to FDA Special Agent Robert J. West, of OCI's Nashville, Tenn., office. After making covert buys through the Web site, FDA agents searched Yates' residence and business in October 1999. They found hundreds of empty prescription drug bottles and cases of unpacked prescription drugs.

Yates and Pusztai had been ordering drugs from a local pharmacy in Alabama and a drug wholesaler, Yvan Degomme, in Miami. The couple wrote phony prescriptions bearing the names of doctors in Romania and Australia. They then enlisted a local doctor, Roger Eiland, to rewrite the prescriptions so they could be filled in the United States. The couple and their employees then removed the drugs from their original bottles, repackaged them in plastic sleeves, and shipped them out to customers in the United States and elsewhere.

After FDA investigators informed Pusztai and Yates of the illegality of their Clanton operation, the couple moved their business to Weirton, W. Va. "They tried to make it smell legitimate," says the FDA's West. "They opened up a pharmacy, got a pharmacist on board, and got licenses." But they continued to write prescriptions bearing names of foreign physicians.

West flew to Australia and Romania to interview the doctors whose names appeared on the prescriptions. Neither doctor had authorized his name to be used, nor had they reviewed any consumer questionnaires.

After property searches in West Virginia and Clanton on Aug. 7, 2000, FDA agents confiscated numerous drugs, questionnaires and records. On the same day, they arrested Anita Yates in Clanton.

Pusztai, who was in Romania at the time of Yates' arrest, promised to return to the United States. "We waited until it was apparent that he was not coming back any time soon," says West, who initiated a Wanted Notice for Pusztai that went out to all Interpol agents. Pusztai, unaware of the Wanted Notice, flew to Germany in January 2001, where he was arrested and jailed. In April 2001, Pusztai waived extradition and was transported by U.S. Marshals to the United States and jailed in Montgomery, Ala.

The couple began their illegal business as early as October 1998 and continued through July 2000, according to evidence presented at trial.

On Feb. 16, 2002, a jury convicted Pusztai and Yates of all 23 counts brought against them. Charges included conspiracy to commit violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, conspiracy to commit money laundering, mail fraud, dispensing misbranded drugs, and operating a drug repackaging facility not registered with the FDA.

Pusztai was sentenced to 15 years, 8 months in prison, 3 years supervised probation, and was fined $2,300. Yates was sentenced to 6 and a half years in prison, 3 years supervised probation, and was fined $2,225. The judge entered a final order of forfeiture of $373,000 in company assets.

Eiland was acquitted at trial and Degomme entered into a plea agreement that resulted in his conviction.

"The Internet is a great tool and there are legitimate sites that sell pharmaceuticals," says West. "But if you don't go to a doctor and are depending on someone on the other end to make a decision, you're taking your life in your hands. You don't even know if you're getting legitimate drugs."