TRENTON
- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal
Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced
the indictment yesterday of an alleged ringleader,
a doctor and a pharmacist in connection
with a narcotics ring that defrauded Medicaid
and distributed black market prescription
pain pills such as OxyContin and Percocet
in Hudson, Bergen, Monmouth and Ocean counties.
“We
charge that these three men and their co-conspirators
were responsible, on a weekly basis, for
distributing thousands of dangerous narcotic
pills across four New Jersey counties,”
said Attorney General Dow. “Through
this joint investigation with the Jersey
City Police Department, we moved aggressively
to shut down this ring and bring its members
to justice.”
“We
are seeing more of these complex cases involving
doctors and pharmacists who conspire with
drug dealers to defraud Medicaid and supply
street-level distribution rings,”
said Director Taylor. “We will continue
to work with our law enforcement partners
to detect and prosecute these criminal networks.”
“The
Jersey City Police Department, in cooperation
with the Division of Criminal Justice, is
targeting a problem that is increasing both
statewide and nationwide,” said Jersey
City Police Chief Thomas Comey. “We
will continue to relentlessly pursue drug
dealers, even if they have medical or pharmacy
licenses.”
“We
allege that the licensed professionals involved
in this criminal network made additional
money by fraudulently billing Medicaid,”
said Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Dagli.
“Medicaid fraud costs the public many
millions of dollars each year. We will continue
to work diligently through our Medicaid
Fraud Control Unit to combat such fraud.”
According
to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Riza
Dagli, the state grand jury indictment charges
Louis Lisi, 35, of Union City, an alleged
leader of the ring, Dr. Clifton Howell,
54, of West Orange, whose medical practice
is on Newark Avenue in Jersey City, and
Amir Tadros, 33, of
Jersey City, a pharmacist in charge at Five
Corners Pharmacy on Summit Avenue in Jersey
City. The three defendants were variously
charged with racketeering (1st degree),
conspiracy (2nd degree), second- and third-degree
narcotics offenses, employing a juvenile
in a drug distribution scheme (2nd degree),
endangering the welfare of a child (2nd
degree), health care claims fraud (2nd degree),
Medicaid fraud (3rd degree), forgery (3rd
degree), and money laundering (3rd degree).
Lisi is also charged with being a leader
of a narcotics trafficking network (1st
degree).
The
indictment alleges that between April 2008
and February 2010, Lisi, Howell and Tadros
conspired with more than 30 others in an
enterprise that unlawfully distributed prescription
narcotics. The indictment stems from Operation
MedScam, an ongoing investigation by the
Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor’s
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Jersey
City Police Department’s Special Investigation
Unit. Another ringleader, two other pharmacists
and 28 street-level drug dealers have already
pleaded guilty in the case. A second doctor,
Magdy Elamir, 57, of Saddle Brook, was indicted
on July 15, 2010. The case against Elamir
is still pending.
It
is alleged that Lisi was one of the leaders
of the enterprise who financed, organized,
supervised and managed the subordinate members
in the transportation and distribution of
prescription narcotics, including Oxycodone
and Percocet, across New Jersey. The investigation
revealed that the enterprise obtained fraudulent
prescriptions for narcotics from licensed
medical doctors, allegedly including Howell
and Elamir. Lower-level members of the ring
were paid cash to solicit individuals, who
were also paid cash, to see the doctors
to obtain the fraudulent prescriptions.
The doctors allegedly generated prescriptions
for thousands of pain pills for the purported
patients, who in fact were never examined
or who had no medical need for the pills.
Medicaid was allegedly billed for the phony
doctor visits.
The
enterprise also involved licensed pharmacists,
allegedly including Tadros, who unlawfully
dispensed prescriptions for thousands of
narcotic pills in exchange for cash. The
pharmacists dispensed the drugs even though
the prescriptions were often not in the
names of the enterprise members who obtained
the drugs. In addition, the pharmacists,
allegedly including Tadros, billed Medicaid
for prescriptions that were not, in fact,
dispensed.
The
enterprise accumulated thousands of prescription
pain pills each week that were sold across
New Jersey. A single 30 milligram OxyContin
pill, known as a “blue,” typically
sells for $10 to $20 on the street, while
a 10 milligram Percocet pill sells for $5
to $8.
The
indictment also alleges that Lisi solicited
and hired persons 17 years old or younger
to participate in the drug ring, and that
he abused or neglected two children, born
in 1999 and 2001, who were in his legal
care.
Detective
Kevin Gannon, Sgt. Frederick Weidman and
Deputy Attorneys General Erik Daab, who
is the Chief of the Medicaid Fraud Control
Unit, Debra Conrad and Cynthia Vazquez were
assigned to the investigation.
They
were assisted by Medicaid Fraud Control
Unit Analysts Mitzi Gross and Anne Howell,
as well as the following members of the
Jersey City Police Department’s Special
Investigation Unit under the supervision
of Chief Thomas Comey: Capt. Gary Lallo,
Lt. Frederick Younger, Sgt. Anthony Musante,
Sgt. Wally Wolf, Detective Wael Shahid,
Detective Jeff Guilfoyle, Detective
Vincent
Disbrow, Detective Hector Marrero, Police
Officer Alex Torres, Police Officer Chris
Dolan, Police Officer Eamon Nally and Police
Officer Erik Infantes.
The indictment was handed up to Superior
Court Judge Edward M. Neafsey in Mercer
County, who assigned the case to Hudson
County. A copy of the indictment is posted
with this release at www.njpublicsafety.com.
The
leader of a narcotics trafficking network
charge carries a mandatory sentence of life
in state prison, including 25 years of parole
ineligibility, and a fine of up to $750,000.
The other first-degree charges carry a maximum
sentence of 20 years in prison and a $200,000
fine. Second-degree crimes carry a maximum
sentence of 10 years in prison and a $150,000
fine. Third-degree Medicaid fraud carries
a maximum sentence of three years in prison
and a $10,000 fine, while the other third-degree
crimes carry a maximum sentence of five
years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
The
indictment is merely an accusation and the
defendants are presumed innocent until proven
guilty.
### |