Judge Upholds Cadden's Release

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A federal judge has upheld the decision of a federal magistrate to release from 24-hour home detention a primary defendant in the criminal probe of the New England Compounding Center.
In a one-page order issued Tuesday U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns denied an appeal by federal prosecutors who had sought to have Barry Cadden confined to his home.
"I see no compelling reason to revisit the findings and order of Magistrate (Jennifer) Boal," Stearns wrote in the brief order.
The swift action came without a court hearing.
Under Boal's order, Cadden can leave his Wrentham, Mass. home each day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. He must wear a GPS device and his bail remains at $500,000.
Cadden is facing 25 counts of second degree murder stemming from the federal probe of the New England Compounding Center. The now defunct company has been blamed for the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak which sickened 778 patients in 20 states. Seventy-seven died.
Cadden, a founder of NECC, was also a stockholder of the now defunct drug compounding firm located in Framingham, Mass.
Cadden's lawyers had argued that he needed to be able to meet with his lawyers on short notices as his scheduled Jan. 5, 2017 trial dates approaches.
Prosecutors argued that with the approaching court date and the denial of Cadden's motion to dismiss the most serious charges, he was at a greater risk for fleeing before trial.
Prosecutors also read into the record at a recent hearing letters sent by victims of the outbreak expressing strong opposition to Cadden's release from house arrest.
Cadden had been under house arrest since shortly after his indictment in late 2014.
Also scheduled to go on trial with Cadden is Glenn Chin, the chief pharmacist for NECC. Chin is also facing 25 second degree murder charges. He remains under home detention.
NECC, according to federal regulators, shipped thousands of vials of fungus loaded vials of spinal steroids to health care providers across the country.
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