Manhattan Doctor Found Guilty of Trading Cash. Cocaine & Sex for Oxyocodone
Edited by: TJVNews.com
A federal jury found a Manhattan doctor guilty of trading cash, cocaine and sexual favors for oxycodone, the Department of Justice announced on Friday, according to a 1010 WINS news report.
As a licensed physician Howard Adelglass, 67, of New York worked together with Marcello Sansone. Adelglass operated a pain-management clinic located in Midtown Manhattan known as the “Clinic”. The Clinic serviced purported patients seeking oxycodone and other pain-relief medications commonly diverted for illicit purposes. In exchange for cash payments, and in some instances for cocaine, Adelglass wrote thousands of prescriptions for large quantities of oxycodone, and many he wrote to individuals whom he knew did not need the pills for a legitimate medical purpose.
When they occurred, the examinations conducted by Adelglass were perfunctory. His purported patients included individuals addicted to opioids and, in some cases, who sold oxycodone on the street. Even when faced with clear evidence of his purported patients’ drug abuse and diversion, Adelglass continued to prescribe large quantities of oxycodone to them.
Initially, Adelglass staffed the Clinic with inexperienced young women, some of whom he addicted to oxycodone. In approximately October 2018, after serving as a primary source of patient referrals, Sansone took over as the Clinic’s office manager. In that role, Sansone helped to control access to Adelglass and the lucrative prescriptions he wrote for medically unnecessary oxycodone. With particularly vulnerable patients, the defendants solicited and, in some instances, received sex acts in exchange for oxycodone prescriptions.
Many of the prescriptions he wrote for people he knew had no medical need for the pills. Many of them were addicts and some sold the pills on the street, as was reported by 1010 WINS.
Adelglass staffed the clinic with inexperienced young women, some of whom became addicted to oxycodone while working there.
Between November 2017 and September 2020, Adelglass prescribed more than 1.3 million oxycodone pills, the report said.
Adelglass was found guilty following a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff. Sentencing is scheduled for March 8, 2023, before Judge Rakoff.
On October 13, 2022, Sansone pled guilty to conspiracy to illegally distribute oxycodone. Sansone is scheduled to be sentenced on February 13, 2023, before Judge Rakoff.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Doctor Howard Adelglass was a drug dealer, but instead of peddling drugs on the street corner, he distributed drugs with a prescription pad from his Central Park South ‘pain-management clinic.’ For years, the defendant prescribed enormous quantities of highly addictive and deadly opioids to people he knew were suffering from substance abuse disorders or were dealers. By distributing mammoth quantities of oxycodone pills to people without a legitimate medical purpose, the defendant destroyed lives and families. Along with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to hold accountable those responsible for fueling the opioid crisis that is ravaging our community and nation.”
They each face up to 20 years in prison.
Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York City Police Department, and the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas W. Chiuchiolo, Marguerite B. Colson, and Daniel G. Nessim are in charge of the prosecution.
