FedEx Drug Case Dismissed

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Federal prosecutors have dropped their nearly two-year long criminal case against FedEx alleging the shipping giant knowingly delivered illegal prescription drugs from pill mills to dealers and addicts.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco dismissed the charges on Friday at the request of prosecutors.

The judge's two-page order did not indicate why prosecutors had decided to drop the case just days after a trial began.

FedEx attorneys had said before the trial that two Drug Enforcement Administration officials who regularly talked to the company were willing to testify that they never told FedEx to stop shipping for any online pharmacies.

The U.S. Attorney's Office confirmed in a statement that it had asked Breyer to dismiss the indictment but also did not say why.

FedEx spokesman Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement the company has always been innocent and the case should never have been brought.