July 18, 2011
Office of The Attorney General
– Paula T. Dow, Attorney General
Division of Criminal Justice
– Stephen J. Taylor, Director
Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
– Ronald Chillemi, Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
Media Inquiries-
Peter Aseltine or
Rachel Goemaat
609-292-4791
Citizen Inquiries-
609-292-4925
Five Sentenced To Prison For Participating In Multi-County Crime Network That Distributed Prescription Pain Pills
TRENTON – Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced that five people were sentenced to state prison today as members of a Jersey City-based drug ring that trafficked prescription pain pills in Hudson, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean and Bergen counties. The leader of the ring, Louis Lisi, has pleaded guilty and faces a 24-year prison sentence, including 12 years of parole ineligibility.
According to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosector Chillemi, the five defendants sentenced today were charged as a result of Operation MedScam, an investigation by the Jersey City Police Department’s Special Investigation Unit and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. On July 6, Lisi, 32, of Union City, pleaded guilty to leading a narcotics trafficking network, and , 54, a doctor who had an office in Jersey City, pleaded guilty to health care claims fraud. They are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 2. faces four years in prison. Another doctor, Magdy Elamir, 58, of Saddle Brook, is scheduled for trial in September in the case. The five defendants who were in court today were sentenced to a total of 23 years in state prison.
“The illicit sale and abuse of addictive painkillers has been an increasing problem in our communities in recent years, posing a deadly threat to young people as well as adults,” said Attorney General Dow. “Today, five people who contributed to that threat were sent to state prison.”
“These criminal networks are driven by illicit profits at both ends – in the medical offices and pharmacies, where licensed professionals bill Medicaid in connection with fraudulent prescriptions, and on the street, where there is a lucrative black market for pain pills,” said Director Taylor. “We will continue to target such criminal enterprises with aggressive investigations and prosecutions.”
“Our partnership with the Jersey City Police Department in this wide-ranging investigation has yielded 35 convictions to date, including the leader of this narcotics ring, a doctor, three pharmacists and numerous street-level drug dealers,” said Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Ronald Chillemi. “With investigations of this type, our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit takes aim at both Medicaid fraud by licensed professionals and criminals distributing dangerous narcotics on our streets.”
“The Jersey City Police Department, in cooperation with the Division of Criminal Justice, is targeting a problem that is growing both here in New Jersey and throughout the country,” said Jersey City Police Chief Thomas Comey. “We will remain relentless in our pursuit of drug dealers, even if they have medical or pharmacy licenses.”
These five defendants, each of whom pleaded guilty in 2010, were sentenced to state prison today by Superior Court Judge Kevin G. Callahan in Hudson County:
Deputy Attorneys General Debra A. Conrad and Cynthia M. Vazquez of the Division of Criminal Justice Medicaid Fraud Control Unit represented the state at the sentencing hearing.
Since October of 2009, 35 people, including doctors and pharmacists, have been arrested and have pleaded guilty in the joint investigation, which uncovered a major criminal narcotics network based in Hudson County that distributed thousands of black market prescription pills such as Oxycontin and Percocet. The network was obtaining fraudulent narcotics prescriptions and filling them at various pharmacies. The network distributed the prescription pain pills throughout Hudson County and other parts of the state, including Monmouth, Morris, Ocean and Bergen counties. A single 30 milligram OxyContin pill, known as a “blue” typically sells for $10 to $20 on the street, while a 10 milligram Percocet pill sells for $5 to $8. In pleading guilty, Lisi admitted that his organization sold hundreds of pills in one week.
Detective Kevin Gannon, Sgt. Frederick Weidman, Deputy Attorney General Conrad and Deputy Attorney General Vazquez were assigned to the investigation. They were assisted by Deputy Attorney General Erik Daab, Analyst Mitzi Gross, Analyst Anne Howell, and the following members of the Jersey City Police Department’s Special Investigation Unit under the supervision of Chief Thomas Comey: Capt. Gary Lallo, Lt. Frederick Younger, Sgt. Anthony Musante, Sgt. Wally Wolf, Detective Wael Shahid, Detective Jeff Guilfoyle, Detective Vincent Disbrow, Detective Hector Marrero, Police Officer Alex Torres, Police Officer Chris Dolan, Police Officer Eamon Nally and Police Officer Erik Infantes. Deputy Attorney General Carol Stanton Meier is handling the asset forfeiture action.
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