Ronzio Sentencing Canceled

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The sentencing of the key government witness in the criminal probe of a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak has been postponed indefinitely while the government appeals the acquittal of another key figure in the case.
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns, sitting in Boston, Mass., today granted a motion filed by federal prosecutors and the attorney for Robert Ronzio to cancel Ronzio's scheduled sentencing session on Aug. 7.
Ronzio was the national sales director for the New England Compounding Center, the company blamed for the 2012 outbreak. Under an agreement with federal prosecutors he pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. Food and Drug Administration along with officials of NECC.
Stearns acquitted NECC Vice President Gregory Conigliaro and NECC manager Sharon Carter of the same charges although they had both been convicted by unanimous jury votes.
Noting Stearns recent acquittal action, prosecutors and Ronzio's attorney, Peter Horstmann, asked that Ronzio's sentencing be delayed "until after conclusion of any appeal by the government." Stearns quickly granted the motion.
Federal prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda Strachan and George Varghese, already have filed initial notice of their intent to appeal Stearns' acquittals.
In approving the request Stearns ordered attorneys for both sides to notify the court when the appeal is decided.
The government appeal marks the second time prosecutors have challenged a decision by Stearns to clear defendants in the case. He granted acquittal motions for two of the 14 originally indicted but the decision was overturned by the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
The 14 were indicted following a two year probe of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak caused by fungus laden steroids produced by the now defunct NECC. Nearly 800 victims were sickened and more than 100 of them have died.
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