Judge Sets Appeal Date

By Walter F. Roche Jr,

A federal judge has set a Sept. 20 hearing date for appeals filed by two former employees of a drug compounding company blamed for a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
In an order filed this week U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns set the date for the appeals filed by Kathy Chin, 47, and Michelle Thomas, 35. The two were convicted on charges that they violated the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, when they filled prescriptions made out for obviously fictitious patients.
Previously Stearns postponed indefinitely a sentencing session for the two, who were employed as pharmacists at the now defunct New England Compounding Center.
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.
Chin and Thomas were convicted on May 2. They were among 14 former NECC employees indicted following a two year probe of the outbreak.
The jury deliberated for only two hours before returning the unanimous verdicts.
Stearns already has granted appeals for two other NECC defendants, Gregory Conigliaro and Sharon Carter. They were both acquitted on all charges despite unanimous jury verdicts finding them guilty.
Kathy Chin is the wife of Glenn Chin, who was a supervising pharmacist at NECC. He is serving an eight year prison term following his conviction on racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud charges.
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