GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN – The rot at Kentwood Pharmacy just keeps deepening. Kim Duron Mulder, 55, formerly of Grand Rapids, and Charles Wayne Brooks, 63, of Alma, both admitted guilt today in federal court to crimes connected to a sickening scheme: illegally recycling and reselling tainted drugs. The pair’s pleas bring a partial close to a sprawling federal investigation that exposed a callous disregard for patient safety and a brazen attempt to line pockets at any cost.
Mulder, the former CEO of Kentwood Pharmacy, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. The charge centers on billing Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance for drugs that were not only misbranded but downright adulterated – meaning contaminated, expired, or otherwise unsafe. Brooks, a pharmacist at the Kentwood Pharmacy facility in Alma, admitted to misbranding prescription drugs that had already been dispensed and then illegally returned to the pharmacy’s stock. Mulder is facing up to ten years in the federal penitentiary; Brooks, up to three.
This isn’t an isolated incident. Eighteen individuals connected to Kentwood Pharmacy have now been convicted of criminal offenses. In December 2014, Richard Clarke, Kentwood’s former Vice President of Sales, received a 14-year sentence for his role in the healthcare fraud conspiracy *and* for possessing child pornography. Pharmacist Lawrence Harden got six years for the same fraud charge. Judge Robert J. Jonker revealed during sentencing that insurers were swindled out of over $80,000,000.00 for these dangerous drugs, with Clarke and Harden responsible for over $8,000,000.00 and $6,000,000.00 in restitution respectively. This wasn’t just a mistake; it was a calculated, multi-million dollar criminal enterprise.
The federal investigation laid bare a horrifying disregard for basic pharmacy rules and federal law. Kentwood Pharmacy was illegally recycling returned drugs from nursing homes and adult foster care facilities. We’re talking about drugs that were cross-contaminated, containing foreign substances, discolored, and past their expiration dates. The process was a disaster: improper labeling, wrong dosages in bottles, and even the outright substitution of medications. Worse still, the lack of tracking allowed at least one defendant to divert controlled prescriptions onto the streets of northern Michigan.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles didn’t mince words: “The Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act provides an essential regulatory framework to safeguard the public’s use of prescription drugs…The public must be able to rely on pharmacists who have both professional and statutory duties to ensure that pharmacies operate in compliance with these federal and state laws regulating the handling, packaging, and distribution of drugs.” It’s a statement of the obvious, but one that Kentwood Pharmacy clearly ignored.
The case was a joint effort by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Internal Revenue Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Raymond E. Beckering III and Adam B. Townshend are handling the prosecution. Authorities are urging anyone with information about potential pharmacy violations or dangerous practices to come forward. Confidential tips were the spark that ignited this investigation, and they could be the key to stopping the next one.
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Key Facts
- State: Michigan
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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