NECC Defendant Seeks One Year Probation

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A defendant and government witness is asking a federal judge to sentence him to just one year of probation for his role at the drug compounding company blamed for a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak.
In an 18-page filing in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. lawyers for Scott Connolly asked U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to sentence him to one year of probation or half the sentence proposed by federal prosecutors.
Connolly is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday for his conviction on 10 counts of mail fraud. He was one of 14 indicted in 2014 following a two year probe of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak. The charges against Connolly stem from the fact that he was working as a pharmacy technician at the New England Compounding Center even though he had surrendered his registration.
In the filing Connolly's lawyer, Raymond Sayeg, recounted Connolly's life from his youth in a Boston suburb to his work as a pharmacy technician at area hospitals including a Veterans Administration hospital.
Attached to the filing were letters of recommendation from his new employer, a Catholic priest and his mother and father.
As his lawyer acknowledged Connolly could face up to 33 months in prison, but added, "It is extremely unlikely that Connolly will re-offend or commit additional crimes in the future.
Citing Connolly's contrition and co-operation with federal prosecutors, the brief states that there was no evidence that the drugs Connolly helped produce caused any harm to patients. Nor did his actions enrich him since he was paid by the hour.
In a filing last week federal prosecutors also cited Connolly's cooperation and recommended that he be given a sentence of two years probation.
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