Physician’s Assistant Pleads Guilty to Oxycodone Distribution Conspiracy
Leonard Marchetta, a 47-year-old physician’s assistant from Staten Island, New York, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute a massive quantity of oxycodone out of a Staten Island-based medical clinic he oversaw.
Between 2012 and 2015, Marchetta wrote medically unnecessary prescriptions for over 125,000 30-milligram oxycodone pills to individuals claiming to be patients. In exchange for cash payments, Marchetta issued prescriptions in the names of fictitious individuals or those he had never seen.
According to the indictment, Marchetta’s co-conspirators recruited and paid individuals to pose as patients in order to receive medically unnecessary prescriptions from Marchetta. The patients were paid between $150 to $200 in cash for obtaining and handing over the oxycodone tablets that Marchetta had prescribed to them.
Marchetta’s guilty plea ensures that he will be punished for contributing to the prescription pill abuse epidemic. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge P. Kevin Castel on April 16, 2015.
The maximum potential sentence in this case is 20 years in prison. Marchetta also agreed to forfeit the proceeds that he received from the scheme.
Marchetta’s scheme was uncovered after he was charged in September 2014. His case is a stark reminder of the dangers of prescription pill abuse and the importance of holding individuals accountable for their actions.
The Staten Island-based medical clinic where Marchetta worked as a physician’s assistant is a family medical clinic that advertised itself to the public as a family medical clinic.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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