A three-year drug investigation found that large quantities of a controlled substance were being shipped from an El Mirage home to buyers of all ages, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced.

DEA Special Agent in Charge Elizabeth W. Kempshall said Phentermine was being sold through various Web sites, and the investigation identified a home in El Mirage, formerly owned by Gregory Crosby as the shipping hub. Crosby was one of 18 people charged last week by a federal grand jury with violations of federal law relating to the distribution of drugs through Internet pharmacy businesses based in Utah and elsewhere.

Officials allege the Internet pharmacies distributed substantial quantities of controlled substances, smuggled into the United States from Mexico, through the online businesses.

Purchasers who did not have valid prescriptions from their physician for the medication they were ordering online were provided a prescription by the online business without a medical evaluation or they were given the controlled substance without a prescription.

Phentermine is chemically similar to amphetamine. It causes a loss of appetite and is used as a short-term treatment for obesity.

According to charging documents, the online businesses - including Lighthousemeds and Federalmeds - were not licensed pharmacies and there is no evidence that Lighthousemeds or Federalmeds ever employed a licensed pharmacist.

The DEA conducted several undercover purchases of drugs without a prescription from the two businesses. Most of the tablets DEA purchased were unmarked and far below the purity levels of the drug reported on the label, officials said.

"As prescription pharmaceutical abuse grows so, too, does the resolve of our Diversion Control Group to investigate and uncover the illicit activities that fuel this problem," Kempshall said. "The investigators and agents assigned to the DCG are committed to ensuring that only those people complying with the law are in possession of prescription drugs."