NECC Defendant Gets Probation

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

BOSTON- A former employee of a Massachusetts drug compounding firm was sentenced to one year of probation today following her conviction on six violations of the federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act.
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns issued the sentence to Alla Stepanets following a brief hearing. She was one of five former employees of the now defunct New England Compounding Center who were convicted late last year.
Her sentencing came just one day after two other former NECC employees were found guilty on similar charges. All three were licensed pharmacists.
Federal prosecutors had recommended a sentence of two years probation.
In a 10-page brief Assistant U.S. Attorney George Varghese said Stepanets "routinely dispensed drugs without valid prescriptions."
"The evidence at trial showed that Ms. Stepanets eschewed her responsibilities as a licensed pharmacist and verified drug shipments for patently fictitious patients," Varghese wrote, adding that her criminal actions were not accidents or mistakes but rather systematic and deliberate violations of law."
Stepanets was one of 14 persons connected to NECC who were indicted in 2014 following a two year probe of the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated drugs produced by the Massachusetts company.
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