TRENTON — Federal prosecutors have charged 22 people with trafficking millions of dollars worth of painkillers around the state, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced yesterday. Among them were two doctors, he said, one in New Jersey and another in New York, who allegedly supplied thousands of fraudulent prescriptions in exchange for money. Sixteen of the defendants were arrested yesterday,...
The office park in Little Silver which houses the office of Jacqueline LoPresti, who is charged in an illegal drug ring.TRENTON — Federal prosecutors have charged 22 people with trafficking millions of dollars worth of painkillers around the state, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced yesterday. Among them were two doctors, he said, one in New Jersey and another in New York, who allegedly supplied thousands of fraudulent prescriptions in exchange for money.
Sixteen of the defendants were arrested yesterday, including one of the doctors, Jacqueline LoPresti, 50, of Fair Haven, and the alleged ringleader, Christopher Erwin, 47, of Barnegat. The rest remain at large, Fishman said, but authorities are searching for them.
The complaint filed in Trenton federal court describes an elaborate operation that netted hundreds of thousands of oxycodone tablets and resold them for profit from at least January 2009 to December 2010.
Investigators said they interviewed several people working for Erwin who posed as patients and scored unlawful prescriptions from LoPresti or Hassan Lahham, 53, of New York. The doctors allegedly took cash payments in exchange for prescribing large amounts of oxycodone, a strong and heavily regulated painkiller marketed as OxyContin, Percocet or Roxicet.
Sometimes they delivered the prescriptions at fast food restaurants or motels in Atlantic City, and in one case at a rest stop on the Garden State Parkway, according to the complaint.
"Sometimes the prescriptions were just blank," Fishman said. The complaint alleges that the fake patients, 17 of whom were charged yesterday, then took the prescriptions to different pharmacies in Monmouth, Atlantic and Ocean counties, filled them out, and surrendered the oxycodone tablets to Erwin for distribution.
Family members of the accused traffickers broke out in tears when the first 10 defendants appeared before a federal judge in Trenton wearing handcuffs and chains binding their legs.
LoPresti was released on $1 million in bail and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Judge Tonianne Bongiovanni declined to suspend her medical license, but ordered that LoPresti cannot write any prescriptions or leave the state.
Bongiovanni also ordered LoPresti to "cooperate fully" with the state Board of Medical Examiners, which is evaluating her case and has the power to suspend or revoke her license. A spokesman for the board said it was involved in the investigation.
LoPresti's attorney, Norm Hobbie, said she will plead not guilty.
"We're going to vigorously and zealously defend the case and defend her rights," Hobbie said. "Unfortunately, the prosecution has not shared any evidence with us, so we can't comment on the specifics of the case."
Most of the defendants were released on $100,000 bail, but Erwin will be detained until a bail hearing Monday. Bongiovanni did not set another court date, saying the next step was for prosecutors to hand up an indictment.
One defendant, Jonathan Puggi, 33, of Little Egg Harbor was denied bail because there was a warrant out for his arrest after he violated the terms of his parole in another case.
"I'm confident that this is a mistake," said his attorney, David Oakley. "My client has a back injury -- in fact he left Dr. LoPresti because she was too aggressive in prescribing medicine."
An undercover agent successfully infiltrated the group and secured a prescription from LoPresti after a perfunctory examination, according to the complaint. Investigators also reviewed video recordings of the doctors writing the prescriptions and of the defendants getting them filled at pharmacies.
Previous Coverage:
• Authorities say Montclair doctor ran oxycodone drug-dealing scheme
• Ventnor man given 77 month term for distributing oxycodone
• Hampton woman charged with identity theft to get treatment & Oxycodone-type pills in Somerville