A well-known Miami-Dade lawyer who pleaded guilty to selling tens of millions in pharmaceutical drugs without prescriptions on an Internet site serving buyers across the country was sentenced to 40 months by a federal judge in California on Thursday.

Robert Smoley, a former mayor of North Bay Village who has represented numerous high-profile clients during his career, admitted he and others distributed in excess of $48 million worth of drugs through his company, United Mail Pharmacy Services.

Federal agents say the 59-year-old attorney set up an elaborate distribution network from a warehouse in Florida, where he and others shipped drugs after taking orders over the Internet and call centers in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Smoley admitted to selling more than seven million pills through more 17 online pharmacy sites – with most of the orders between 2001 and 2008.

Read the complete story at miamiherald.com