Sentencing Postponed for 2 NECC Defendants

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A federal judge has postponed indefinitely the sentencing of two pharmacists convicted om charges stemming from a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns today granted the postponement motion filed in behalf of Kathy Chin, 47, and Michelle L. Thomas, 35, both former employees of the New England Compounding Center, the company that caused the 2012 outbreak.
Chin and Thomas had been scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 8 and Aug. 9, but their attorneys had petitioned for a delay pending the results of an appeal of their convictions.
Chin was convicted on four counts of misbranding a drug with the intent to defraud while Thomas was found guilty of two counts of the same charges. The unanimous guilty verdicts were returned on May 2 after only two hours of deliberation.
Chin and Thomas were not charged for any involvement in producing the drugs that caused the outbreak but for filling prescriptions made out to obviously fake named patients, such as Filet O Fish.
The two were convicted in early May in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. They were among 14 indicted in late 2014 following a two year probe of the 2012 outbreak.
Three of the 14 originally indicted in the case have been acquitted of all charges while three others are now serving jail sentences.
Those currently serving jail terms include Glenn Chin, the husband of Kathy Chin. He is serving an eight year sentence following his conviction on racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud charges.
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