FORMER SPRINGFIELD AREA PHARMACIST CONVICTED OF FRAUD

Boston, MA... A former Longmeadow man was convicted late yesterday in federal court of health care fraud and related crimes.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Joseph C. Moraski, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Inspector General in New England; Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England; Mark Dragonetti, Resident Agent in Charge of the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation in Boston; and Douglas A. Bricker, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, announced that MONTY SCHWARTZ, age 62, of Oakland, Florida, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to mail fraud, health care fraud, sale of drug samples and sale of misbranded drugs.

At yesterday’s plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the Government’s evidence would have proven that SCHWARTZ, the owner and chief pharmacist at the former Shoppers Drug, Inc. in Springfield, re-sold drugs that had been returned by customers as well as not-for-resale drug samples. SCHWARTZ instructed his employees to remove the returned and sample drugs from their original packaging and put them back in stock bottles where they were used for filling new prescriptions. In this process, the lot numbers of the drugs were lost leaving the store without the ability to track the pills in the case of a recall. In addition, expiration dates were not tracked on the returned and sample pills. SCHWARTZ pled guilty to violating federal drug laws designed to protect consumers and to fraudulently billing Medicaid and private health insurers for the illegally dispensed drugs.

Judge Woodlock scheduled sentencing for December 12, 2006. SCHWARTZ faces up to 20 years' imprisonment on each of the health care fraud and mail fraud counts, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen L. Goodwin in Sullivan’s Springfield Office.

Press Contact: Samantha Martin, (617) 748-3139