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Did Sessions Violate Recusal by Advising on Comey Firing?

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President Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey based on advice from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has raised questions about whether Sessions violated his own recusal from the Russia investigation, which Comey was leading.

As NBC News reported, legal experts say the answer depends on the scope of Sessions' recusal and the true reasoning for Comey's dismissal. The White House has insisted Comey was fired for his mishandling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails.

One legal ethics expert from New York says the scope of his recusal is very broad, and Sessions therefore flatly violated it.

However, a former federal prosecutor drew attention to the fact that Sessions chose to recuse himself and was not instructed to do so by the Justice Department. Therefore, the expert said, Sessions is allowed to change his mind if he wants.



Photo Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images, File

Federal Raid Recovers Guns and Drugs in University City

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A convicted felon was taken into custody and several guns and a large quantity of drugs were recovered from University City home Wednesday.

It was the result of a year-long combined investigation into resident Paul Holdy by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and FBI.

Recovered during a search of Holdy's house and cars on Angell Avenue were several automatic rifles and handguns, investigators said. A large quantity of the date rape drug GHB was also found.

A search warrant filed in federal court Tuesday showed details of controlled buys of heroin and guns between undercover agents and Holdy.

Neighbors told NBC 7, they were shocked to find automatic weapons and drugs were being sold from a home on their quiet cul-de-sac. 

"It’s hard to believe that this goes on in our quiet little community here. It’s scary," neighbor Chris Yusunas said.

Hazmat was called to test liquid and powder substances that were also recovered, which federal agents could not identify.

"We definitely didn't find any explosives. I want to make sure all the residents around here get that message. There are no explosives here so they don't have to worry about their families and children,” Captain Robin Cervantes, from the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) said.

Longtime family friend and neighbor, Wallace Helm said the house belongs to the Holdy's father. Holdy had moved back in four months ago.

"There has been no unusual activity. He has a motorcycle he uses occasionally. He comes and goes,” Helm said.

A video appears to show Holdy surrounded by ATF agents and FBI, in tactical gear and guns drawn. He was taken into custody at the Best Buy in La Jolla Village Square.

"At first, I thought maybe someone was snagged for shoplifting or something like that. Then again, ATF doesn't get involved in that,” witness George Spillman said.

Investigators said Holdy was convicted on felony drug charges in 2009 making the penalty for these offenses even greater.

If convicted on all charges, Holdy is facing up to 30 years in prison.



Photo Credit: NBC 7

5 Names Being Considered for Interim FBI Director

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In the wake of Tuesday's firing of FBI Director James Comey, a Justice Department official told NBC News that candidates are being considered to serve as interim director until the role is permanently filled.

Andrew McCabe was Comey's deputy director and is now serving as the acting head of the FBI. Meanwhile, Paul Abbate holds a top FBI position as well, leading the agency's criminal and cyber investigations and international operations.

Adam Lee is in charge of the FBI's Richmond, Virginia, office. Michael Anderson is also with local FBI, leading the Chicago division since 2015.

William Evania is the head of the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, meaning he looks at insider threats and spying on the U.S. from a broad policy perspective.



Photo Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images, File

2nd Confederate-Era Monument Taken Down in New Orleans

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Authorities in New Orleans on Thursday took down a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis as protests both for and against the removal mounted in recent days, NBC News reported. 

The statue is the second of four monuments relating to the Confederacy that's in the process of being removed by the city, after the protests and legal challenges.

To conceal their identities, workers wore masks and protective helmets when they removed the statue in the dead of night.

Demonstrators carrying Confederate flags and chanting "President Davis" argued with protesters shouting "take 'em down," referring to the monuments they see as totems of racism and white supremacy.

Some of the pro-monument demonstrators chanted "Mitch for prison" — a reference to New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who is backing the monuments' removal.



Photo Credit: AP

2 Killed, 2 Injured In Escondido Crash

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A man and a woman are dead, and two others are injured after a police chase in Escondido. 

Police said officers were trying to pull over a driver in a PT Cruiser for a broken tail light and a red light violation, around 12:17 a.m. Thursday morning, when the female driver took off. 

The driver crashed into several parked cars, knocked over a tree, and ended up in an embankment, at East Grand Avenue near North Ash Street.

Four people were inside the PT Cruiser.

The two other passengers, a man and a woman, were injured, and are being treated at two different hospitals.

Police said they are expected to survive. 

Roads are closed near East Grand Avenue between Ash and Harding Street while police investigate. 


No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.

Study Identifies Root Cause of Gray, Balding Hair

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Scientists in North Texas have identified the cells that cause hair to turn gray and to go bald – findings that could one day help identify possible treatments.

Researchers from the University of Texas Southewestern Medical Center accidentally stumbled upon the discovery while studying a rare genetic disease that causes tumors to grow on nerves. 

"When we saw the mice that we were expecting to form a tumor turned gray, we were really excited!" said Dr. Lu Le, an associate professor of dermatology at UT Southwestern.

The researchers found that a protein called KROX20, more commonly associated with nerve development, switches on in skin cells that become the hair shaft.

These hair cells then produce another protein called stem cell factor (SCF). In mice, these two proteins turned out to be important for baldness and graying.

When researchers deleted the SCF gene in mice, the animals' hair turned white; when they deleted the cells that produce KROX20, the mice stopped growing hair and eventually went bald, according to the study.

"We were really excited because as a dermatologist, I treat patients with hair disease, so when we found the root cause of why hair turns gray and hair loss, we just cannot let it go," Le said.

More research is needed to understand if the process works similarly in humans, and Le and his colleagues plan to start studying it in people.

Le hopes that, armed with this knowledge, scientists can develop a topical compound or transplant the necessary gene to hair follicles to correct these cosmetic problems.

Researchers say the findings could one day also provide answers about why humans age in general as hair graying and hair loss are among the first signs of aging.

At Hair Revival Studio in Dallas, clients say the possibility of a treatment for gray hair and baldness sounds remarkable.

"Everyone wants to have a good head of hair. There's a lot of confidence that comes with that," said Brandon Stewart.



Photo Credit: NBC 5 News

PyeongChang? Pyongyang? Olympic Host City Easily Confused

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A few letters make a big difference.

As the 2018 Winter Olympics approach, some soon-to-be spectators are confusing the host city of PyeongChang, South Korea, with Pyongyang, North Korea. In one case, a man who planned to go to the South Korean ski town accidentally went to the capital of one of the most repressive countries in the world.

"There's a lot of confusion between the two," Daniel Olomae Ole Sapit said.

In October 2014, Sapit, a Kenyan member of the Maasai tribe, was registered to attend a United Nations conference in PyeongChang. But a travel agent who bought his ticket unwittingly sent him to Pyongyang instead.

Sapit said he was held in North Korea for more than four hours, forced to pay about $500 for a plane ticket out of the country and ordered to sign a pledge saying he would never return to North Korea without a visa.

"I signed that very fast," he said Wednesday, speaking from Bonn, Germany, where he was attending another conference. The 40-year-old father of three travels around the world to advocate for indigenous groups.


Several visitors to the National Mall whom News4 spoke with said they weren't clear on what country PyeongChang is in.

"PyeongChang sounds like somewhere in Asia," one woman said.

"PyeongChang? Korea. North Korea," a man said.

Ed Hula, the editor-in-chief of the Olympics news website Around the Rings, said he's found that many people are still foggy about whether PyeongChang is in the prosperous, democratic south or the impoverished, authoritarian north, led by Kim Jong-un.

"It's still a big mystery, where PyeongChang is," Hula said. He's covered every round of the Olympic Games since 1992.

"PyeongChang, South Korea -- that means nothing to them," he said. "But I think people don't know what Pyongyang is for the most part either."


People familiar with both cities have been quick to quip on Twitter.


Sapit, who first told his story to the Wall Street Journal, said he first suspected something was wrong as the plane descended and he failed to see the huge city of Seoul or its neighbors from his window seat. Instead of seeing a modern terminal, he said he saw a "ramshackle" building with a metal roof. People outside the small airport dug trenches and carried heavy loads on their backs.

"By the time we were getting off the plane, I had an eerie feeling that this was not Seoul," he said.

He started asking fellow passengers if they were in South Korea. They told him they were in North Korea.

Sapit approached officials at the airport, and hours of discussions began about what had happened.

"They told me I was in North Korea illegally and had no visa," he said. He was terrified.

Finally, a woman who spoke English better than other officials told him he could pay for his plane ticket, sign the pledge promising to never return illegally and leave.

"He was sent back to Kenya with a $500 fine, and after that, we capitalized the C," said Songjae Lim, a spokesman for the PyeongChang Olympic organizing committee.

Previously known in English as Pyongchang, officials rebranded the city as PyeongChang, with an "e" and capital "C," to highlight the difference between the locations.

Despite the risk of confusion, interest in travel to PyeongChang -- known for its ski resorts, Buddhist temples and cuisine -- appears to be way up.


The travel search engine Kayak is seeing 20 times more searches for travel to PyeongChang during the 2018 Winter Games than the website had for the same period last year, a spokeswoman said earlier this year.

"While we have seen a handful of searches to Pyongyang, North Korea, for those same travel dates, folks are predominantly getting it right," the spokeswoman said.


A U.S. embassy official in Seoul said the chances are low that an American will accidentally fly to the wrong place; it's difficult to get a plane ticket or visa to North Korea.

Some Americans may head there on purpose. 

The manager of Koryo Tours, a Beijing company that organizes trips in North Korea, said the company has received a handful of inquiries from Americans who want to travel to the north since they'll be in the south. 

A number of Americans have been detained in North Korea. An American was detained on suspicion of "hostile acts" on May 6, taking to four the number of U.S. citizens being held by Kim's regime.

Sapit said he shudders whenever he hears the government has detained someone. 

"Anything could have happened to me," he said. He hopes his story will help other people.

Sapit had this advice for anyone planning to go to PyeongChang but not Pyongyang: "Look at your ticket the way you do an insurance contract. Confirm, confirm, confirm."



Photo Credit: Getty Images
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New San Diego County Superintendent of Schools Named

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The San Diego Board of Education named Paul Gothold as its new superintendent of schools Wednesday.

Gothold has more than 25 years of experience in education. He most recently worked as superintendent of Lynwood Unified School District in the Los Angeles area.

The County Board of Education oversees 42 different school districts and more than half a million students.

Gothold's first day on the job will be June 1.

Officials said more than 600 people played some role in the search for a new superintendent by either taking an online survey or participating in a focus group or interview.



Photo Credit: San Diego County Office of Education

ICE Reports 24,000 Deportations in San Diego Region

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Almost 24,000 undocumented immigrants in San Diego were deported during the 2016 fiscal year, a spokesperson U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Wednesday.

Of those deportees, 10,872 were convicted criminals while 12,857 were classified as non-criminal.

Only Phoenix reported more criminal deportations in the Western U.S.

Los Angeles reported 6,722 deportations while San Francisco reported 5,918,



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Fresno Official Claims Pot Purchase Was 'Deep Undercover' Work

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The former second-in-command of a California city says he was working "deep undercover" when he was recorded talking about buying marijuana his lawyer told jurors at the start of a federal criminal trial.

The Fresno Bee reported Wednesday that wiretaps also recorded Fresno's former deputy Police Chief Keith Foster contemplating the purchase of heroin and prescription painkillers.

Foster has pleaded not guilty to charges of distributing oxycodone, heroin and marijuana. The paper reported Foster turning down a deal to plead guilty in exchange for a nearly 4-year prison term.

The paper reported that Foster's contact with drug dealing suspects was done without his supervisor's knowledge. Foster's attorney told jurors his client was responding to an order to determine whether heroin was causing problems in Fresno.


Trump Says He May Release Tax Returns After Leaving Office

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President Donald Trump may release his tax returns after all, but not until he's out of office, NBC News reported.

In an interview published by The Economist Thursday, Trump said he didn't see a reason to make his tax returns public — even if it means getting Democratic support for his tax plan.

A Pew survey in January found 60 percent of Americans thought he should release his tax returns.

Trump said nobody cares about his tax returns besides reporters, but added that he'll release them at "some point."

"Maybe I'll release them after I'm finished because I'm very proud of them actually. I did a good job," Trump said.

Trump has dodged requests to release his tax returns throughout his campaign and presidency thus far. He's said that he’s under IRS audit and implied to The Economist that his taxes wouldn't be done anytime soon.



Photo Credit: AP, File

NBC News' Lester Holt to Interview Donald Trump

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President Donald Trump will sit down for an exclusive interview with NBC News' Lester Holt on Thursday, NBC News reported.

Holt will anchor "NBC Nightly News" from Washington, D.C., Thursday evening, and the interview will air during the broadcast. Excerpts of the interview will air on the "Today" show Friday morning, as well. 

The interview is Trump's first sit down with Holt since he moderated the first presidential debate in September. It also comes in the midst of a major controversy over Trump's dismissal of FBI Director James Comey.



Photo Credit: NBC News

Bystander Dead, Officers Hurt as NJ Standoff Enters 2nd Day

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A tense police standoff in New Jersey's capital city has stretched past 24 hours as authorities continue to negotiate with a gunman who opened fire on U.S. Marshals attempting to serve a warrant, killing a bystander and injuring three officers.

Through Thursday, officers on a bullhorn could be heard pleading with 35-year-old Tyleeb Reese to leave the Trenton home where he's been holed up since Wednesday morning.

Police surrounded the Trenton home on Centre Street, near Furman Street, after U.S. Marshals came under fire around 6:20 a.m. Wednesday, Trenton Police Lt. Stephen Varn said. Trenton Police told NBC10 members of the U.S. Marshals Service Joint Regional Fugitive Task Force were initially at the house to serve a warrant when Reese opened fire.


A bystander, 56-year-old Robert Powell Jr., of Lamberton Street in Trenton, was shot and killed outside the home. 

Cellphone video obtained by NBC10 shows several armed officers braced against parked cars with their guns pointed at a nearby building. A bystander is then seen crawling on the ground to safety when several shots are fired. At least one bullet appears to have struck the man. Footage shows two officers drag the man's body to safety and then another gun shot is heard before the video ends.

Police have not confirmed if the bystander who was killed is the man in the cellphone video. 

Three Mercer County Sheriff's officers were injuries, police said. Officials said they were struck by projectiles and were taken to the hospital where they were all treated and released. 

Gunfire between officers and the suspect rang out overnight. Police and Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson hope to bring the standoff to a peaceful end.

A hostage negotiator used a bullhorn to try to compromise with the 35-year-old suspect, promising that if he came out "with your hands up in the air...I give you my word that you will walk away from here."

Families in the area were evacuated from their homes while others received a reverse 911 call urging them to remain inside. Police say a 7-year-old boy was alone in a home across from the barricaded house. Officers were able to get him out safely and reunited with his mother. 

One resident told NBC10 she is a close friend of Reese, a father of two.

"We talked to him a few times on the phone," Tamara Reaves said. "I asked him just to come out."

Reaves said the suspect is well-known and liked in the community.


"It's almost a suicide attempt to me and I love him very much," she said. "He wants somebody to take him out. He doesn't have the courage to kill himself. We want it to end in a good way, not the cops getting hurt or him getting hurt."

This story is developing. Stay with NBC10.com for updates.



Photo Credit: AP
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2 Injured in Mission Trails Park

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Two people were injured in Mission Trails Regional Park Thursday, fire officials said.

San Diego Fire-Rescue crews responded to the trailhead near Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and Rueda Drive as well as Mast Boulevard and Mission Trails just after 9 a.m. for the report of a rescue.

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.

'Super Labs' in Mexico Fuel Meth Crisis: Task Force

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In April, U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees arrested a teenager on a Sunday morning at the checkpoint along Interstate 8 in Pine Valley.

Agents said the teenager was driving a Nissan Armada with 46 bundles of methamphetamine hidden inside. The seizure was worth $150,000 on the street.

Arrests like this one are an indication of what many local officials are calling a "crisis" - not only in the San Diego region but in the western U.S.

According to the Methamphetamine Strike Force 2016 Report Card, meth-related drug overdose deaths in San Diego County rose 18.7 percent in 2015 to 311.

Of those deaths, more than half were over the age of 45. In 2015, 310 people died of meth use according to county statistics. Fifty-seven percent of those deaths were among people ages 45 to 64.

Emergency-room discharges for meth which were 3,773 in 2011 jumped to more than 10,000 in 2014.

The statistics were shared Thursday by the Methamphetamine Strike Force, composed of approximately 70 local, state and federal organizations and agencies.

Deputy U.S. Attorney Mark Conover called the resurgence of meth in the region a "crisis."

"We’re intercepting shipments as large as 150 pounds of pure meth,” Conover said Thursday. “What we’re confiscating is getting more pure, and the shipments are growing in terms of size and frequency.”

“I don’t think people realize the severity of the problem,” he said.

Part of the problem can be found in so-called “super labs” south of the U.S.-Mexico border. The chemical components used to manufacture meth are imported from suppliers in China. Once the product is created, it's shipped north across the border to be sold and distributed.

Check back for updates on this developing story.


Trump Was Going to Fire Comey 'Regardless of Recommendation'

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President Donald Trump was going to fire FBI Director James Comey "regardless of recommendation," he told NBC News' Lester Holt Thursday in an exclusive interview that comes amid controversy over the termination.

That contradicts the initial version of events presented by the White House. "President Trump acted based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions," press secretary Sean Spice said in a statement announcing Comey's dismissal. 

"I was going to fire Comey. There's no good time to do it, by the way," Trump told Holt, calling Comey a "showboat" and "grandstander." 


Trump also said he reached out to Comey at one point to find out if he was under FBI investigation, according to an excerpt that aired Thursday afternoon. He said he talked to Comey once during dinner and twice by phone.

"I know that I'm not under investigation. Me. Personally," Trump said.

Holt will anchor "NBC Nightly News" from Washington, D.C., Thursday evening, and the interview will air during the 6:30 p.m./5:30c broadcast. Excerpts of the interview will air on the "Today" show Friday morning, as well. 



Photo Credit: NBC
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Search for Offender Who Ditched GPS Tracking Device

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A convicted car thief ditched his GPS tracking device and vanished in the Barrio Logan area of San Diego, prison officials confirmed Thursday.

Israel Hernandez, 27, was last seen leaving the back door of a Male Community Re-Entry Program facility at 4:20 a.m.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials (CDCR) officials say Hernandez left his court-ordered GPS device in a nearby parking lot.

Hernandez is described as 5-feet, 8-inches and 207 pounds. He was sentenced last year to a two-year, eight-month sentence for vehicle theft, according to officials.

Hernandez was scheduled to be released on probation in March 2018.

Anyone who sees Hernandez or has any knowledge of his whereabouts should immediately contact law enforcement or call 911.

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.



Photo Credit: CDCR

Convicted Killer: 'That 1 Second Doesn't Define Me'

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An Ocean Beach man, convicted of voluntary manslaughter, said he wishes every day he could take back the moment he opened fire and killed his roommate's boyfriend.

“That one second doesn’t define me,” Thomas Francis "TJ" Burke said in court Thursday before he was sentenced to 16 years in state prison for the fatal shooting on June 22, 2016.

Jess Robles, 35, was shot once in the chest when he walked up to the door of the condo his girlfriend shared with Burke.

The shooting led to a police action that shut down the neighborhood around Voltaire Street and Catalina Boulevard.

“You cheated me out of my happiness with Jess,” the victim's girlfriend Larae Clark told the defendant. “I’m ashamed to ever have called you my friend.”

Burke and Clark grew up in New Jersey and Burke harbored romantic and sexual feelings for her, the prosecutor told jurors.

On the night of the shooting, a Lyft driver dropped Clark and Robles at the condo about 11 p.m., and she went inside, where she got into an argument with Burke.

Robles decided to check on Clark when she was gone longer than anticipated and knocked on the condo door, he said.

Burke opened the door and shot Robles once in the chest and once in the throat and told Clark, "He's dead."

Defense attorney Gary Gibson told jurors that Burke was "freaked out" by the situation with Robles and armed himself when he heard a bang on the door.

Jurors acquitted the 33-year-old pharmacist of murder and convicted him of involuntary manslaughter.

Several friends and relatives of the victim spoke at Thursday's sentencing hearing. Robles' father said he was disappointed jurors did not convict Burke of murder. 

“He planned his defense a long time ago, even lying in court and crying begging for mercy. Fooled his lawyers, fooled the jury and his own family but he hasn’t fooled us,” said Michael Robles.

Burke's mother and stepfather described a young man who was hard-working and thoughtful. 

“He had to be terrified that evening,” Burke’s mother Paula Mia Campo said.

Stepfather George Fleming said he’s known "TJ" for more than 10 years and never saw aggression toward others.

“During that time I’ve never seen this person they’re describing as a monster,” Fleming said.

When it came time to make a statement, Burke apologized to his family and the victim's family for his actions that night.

“Every day I think if I could take it back, I would. If I could erase the pain, I would. Every day it haunts me knowing that I can’t,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

Judge Melinda J. Lasater sentenced Burke to 16 years in state prison followed by parole.

“He knew better. He had the background,” Lasater said. "He knew he shouldn't have the gun. He knew he shouldn't be drinking. The combination came together."



Photo Credit: NBC 7

3 Bodies Found in Vista Home: SDSO

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San Diego County Sheriff’s Department (SDSO) deputies launched an investigation into three bodies found in a Vista home Thursday.

At around 10:15 a.m., deputies received word there had been a death in the 200 block of Vista Glen. Three hours later, officials remained at the scene collecting evidence.

Homicide detectives are on scene.

Initial evidence indicates the deaths may have been overdoses, SDSO Homicide Lt. Rylaarsdam said. The Medical Examiner is doing a toxicology report.  

No further details were immediately released.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.

Patients Beg for Pricey Drugs on Facebook Black Market

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Desperate patients are swapping pricey pharmaceutical drugs on Facebook, NBC News reported.

NBC News searched Facebook and found postings to trade insulins, EpiPens, asthma inhalers and other prescription medications.

"If it weren't for the online diabetes community I would be dead," said Amy Leyendecker, a 43-year-old medical transcription student from Kentucky living with Type-1 diabetes who requires daily doses of insulin to stay alive.

Doctors say patients like Leyendecker take a big gamble.

"Patients can put themselves in grave danger by using insulin 'traded' online," said Dr. Joshua Miller, medical director of diabetes care at Stony Brook Medicine, running the risk of infection, or fluctuating blood sugar levels if the insulin was expired or stored incorrectly.



Photo Credit: John Moore/Getty Images
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