Final Defendant Gets 1 Year Probation

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The final defendant in the criminal case stemming from a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak was sentenced to one year of probation today in a session before U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns in his Boston, Mass. courtroom.
Michelle Thomas, who was a pharmacist at the New England Compounding Center, was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $200 special assessment. She is the last of 14 originally indicted following a two year probe of the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
Eleven of the 14 were found guilty or entered guilty pleas. Two of the 14 had their jury convictions overturned by Stearns and one of the 14 was acquitted on a jury verdict.
Thomas was convicted on two counts of violating the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). Prosecutors charged that she approved the shipping of prescriptions for patients with obviously fake names.
The one year of probation was one year less than that recommended by federal prosecutors.
Co-defendant Kathy Chin was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation. Chin was convicted of four counts of violating the FDCA.
Three of the original 14, Glenn Chin, Barry Cadden and Gene Svirskiy are currently serving jail sentences. Kathy Chin is the spouse of Glenn Chin.
Kathy Chin and Thomas were not charged with any involvement in the production of the fungus riddled drugs that caused the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
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