Busted NY drug ring used Pocono pharmacies

Feb. 11--Authorities last year arrested Monroe County residents involved in two illegal prescription drug rings that raked in millions of dollars in 2011 and 2012.

While 25 of those drug ring members have been sentenced and more are awaiting sentencing, authorities last week charged 25 New York residents in a separate multimillion-dollar operation involving prescriptions being illegally filled in the Poconos and other states.

As was the case with the Monroe County drug rings busted last year, the illegal prescriptions are mainly for the highly addictive opioid painkiller Oxycodone.

Dr. Kevin Lowe, 54, of Kingston, N.Y., owner of Astramed Physicians, which had multiple clinics in the Bronx, N.Y., is accused of having doctors at those clinics charge cash for writing thousands of medically unnecessary prescriptions, said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York.

Drug crew members posing as patients paid for those prescriptions and then filled and sold them in Pennsylvania and other eastern states for profit, Bharara said.

Prescription drug pills sold for up to $30 each on New York City's illegal market. At one point, there were 31,000 medically unnecessary prescriptions for 5.5 million pills, which sold for a total of between $170 million and $500 million on the streets, said Bharara.

One-third at Pocono pharmacies

Robert Terdiman, 68, of Yonkers, N.Y., is one Astramed Physicians clinic doctor charged by the New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office with taking part in this scheme.

Between June 2012 and July 2013, Terdiman issued 18,700 illegal prescriptions to more than 4,200 people, said Public Information Director Kati Cornell for the prosecutor's office. Of these prescriptions, 189 were filled in Pennsylvania.

About 30 percent of that number (55 prescriptions) were filled at Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg, Cresco, Mount Pocono, Tobyhanna, Pocono Summit, Blakeslee and Effort pharmacies, Cornell said.

She didn't know and the U.S. Attorney's Office isn't commenting on whether any Monroe County residents will be charged in connection with this particular operation.

Terdiman, in whose Tuckahoe Motor Inn apartment federal agents found financial records, a .357 revolver and 47 rounds of ammunition hidden in a TV stand, charged drug crew members or "runners" between $200 and $300 for each appointment, Cornell said.

Drug crew recruiters often fronted runners cash for money orders made payable to Astramed Physicians. Runners waited for hours in line for appointments lasting only a few minutes.

No questions asked

Terdiman conducted no physical examinations, collected no medical documentation such as MRI or X-ray records and asked only cursory questions about pain, physical therapy and surgery, ignoring inconsistent responses from undercover agents posing as runners, Cornell said.

Recruiters coached runners on how to answer Terdiman's questions and, no matter how inconsistent or strange the responses were, he always authorized Oxycodone prescriptions.

Legitimate doctors test patients to ensure those patients are using only the prescribed drugs and not illegally selling any pills.

When some in the community began suspecting Terdiman wasn't doing this, recruiters began openly selling bottles of urine testing positive only for Oxycodone, Cornell said. These urine samples were then given to clinic staff members, who then generated reports in efforts to legitimize the clinic's files.

Terdiman's approval was required for the prescriptions, but he did not hand them directly to the runners, Cornell said. Instead, runners had another long wait, either in the clinic's waiting room or out on the sidewalk, with either security guards or recruiters sometimes calling out runners' names to hand them prescriptions.

UPDATE on the SCRIP KING CASE

John Romagnolo, 45, of Cresco, and Bryn Stevenson, 31, of Tannersville, led separate drug rings which together made a total of $2.1 million from selling illegal prescriptions for Oxycodone and other addictive painkillers between February 2011 and December 2012, authorities said.

Romagnolo, who at one point called himself the "Scrip King," and Stevenson had their respective rings supplied by Patricia Rodriguez, 29, of the Bronx, N.Y., a New York City doctor's office manager, and her husband, Hector Rodriguez, 30, authorities said. The couple has been charged for their roles.

Patricia Rodriguez wrote prescriptions using names provided by Romagnolo and Stevenson, who both then used "fillers" from their respective rings to get pills at various pharmacies in Monroe and neighboring counties, authorities said. Ring members used insurance or medical assistance to buy pills at lower costs, generating profits for both rings.

Romagnolo's and Stevenson's cases are still pending. Some Romagnolo ring members have been sentenced.

Samantha Borushak, 22, of Stroudsburg; Francis Kyle, 26, of Mount Bethel; Brianna Minicozzi, 20, Saylorsburg; Jose Ocasio, 29, of Blakeslee; Jean Romagnolo, 65, of Cresco; Christopher Saraceno, 38, of Greenwood Lake, N.Y.; and Robert Theune, 47, of East Stroudsburg, received "confinement" (electronic monitoring) sentences.

Martina Collins, 31, of East Stroudsburg, was sentenced to three to 18 months in Monroe County Correctional Facility.

Kilee Cunningham, 21, of Stroudsburg; Zakiyyah Glover, 28, of Albrightsville; Roberta Holden, 32, and Shannon Skow, 24, both of Mount Bethel; Michael Prystash, 24, of Wilkes-Barre; and Timothy Tyszka, 31, of Delaware Water Gap, received probation. Still awaiting sentencing is Patrick Zipp, 36, of Long Pond.

Some Stevenson ring members likewise have been sentenced.

Matthew Burkhardt, 30, and Shakall Chanoine, 31, both of East Stroudsburg; and Sharise Martin, 33, Allen Thomas, 23, and Jessica Nicosia, 29, all of Stroudsburg, received confinement.

Denise Denucci, 26, and Mathias Myrthel, 30, both of Stroudsburg, and David Marsh Jr., 31, Nicholas Sandt, 33, Clara Schubert, 47, and Elixandra Roman, 27, all of East Stroudsburg, received probation.

Still awaiting sentencing are Nicholas Baliotis and Jesse Fetherman, both 32 and of East Stroudsburg; Kali Friedman, 22, of Marshalls Creek; Christina McCorristin, 31, of Tannersville; Travis Silfee, no age or address listed; Dale Stephens, 26, of Stroudsburg; Olga Stevenson, 28, no address listed; and Tina Zacharias, 43, of Saylorsburg.

Andrew Scott

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