Cadden Sentencing Reset for June 29

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The sentencing session for the lead defendant in the criminal case stemming from a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak has been pushed back to late June by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns.
In an order issued this week Stearns set June 29 as the date for sentencing of Barry J. Cadden who was convicted on 58 counts of racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud. The session had originally been set for June 21.
The jurors acquitted Cadden of 25 counts of second degree murder.
Stearns also issued an order officially canceling a pretrial hearing and an April 10 trial date for seven other defendants in the case. That delay had been expected.
The other lead defendant, Glenn Chin, is scheduled to go on trial Aug. 14. He faces the same charges as Cadden did.
Chin, Cadden and 12 others were indicted in late 2014 following a two year federal probe of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak which sickened some 778 patients, killing 77 of them. The outbreak was caused by fungus laden steroids shipped from the New England Compounding Center. Cadden was president and part-owner of the company.
Stearns order also calls for the U.S. Attorney to provide federal probation officials with the names of victims of the outbreak.
Many of the victims are expected to submit so-called victim impact statements. It is not clear whether any surviving victims will be allowed to testify at the June session. During Cadden's nine-week trial Stearns limited the number of victims allowed to testify.
The June 29 session is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in Stearns' Boston, Mass. courtroom. He could face up to 20 years in prison on each of the mail fraud counts, but federal sentencing guidelines are likely to limit his actual sentence.
Of the 14 people originally indicted in the case, two have had all charges dismissed while two others entered guilty pleas to vastly reduced charges.