Chin, Thomas Appeal Hearing Set

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Two former pharmacists will go before a federal judge this week and ask him to do the same thing he did with two of their co-defendants, overturn unanimous guilty jury verdicts and acquit them of all charges.
Kathy Chin, 47, and Michelle Thomas, 35, were convicted in May of violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act following a four day trial. They were among 14 indicted in 2014 following a two year probe of the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns, who will hear the acquittal arguments Friday, already has granted acquittal motions to Gregory Conigliaro and Sharon Carter.
As an alternative to acquittal Chin and Thomas also asked for a new trial, contending that much of the evidence presented at the trial involved wrongdoing by other parties.
Carter, Conigliaro, Chin and Thomas were all employed by the New England Compounding Center, the defunct company blamed for the outbreak.
Chin's lawyer, Joan Griffin, has argued that her client was convicted of not doing something that wasn't even part of her job. In her acquittal motion, Griffin said Chin simply checked to see that the drugs already compounded by other NECC employees matched up with the orders placed with the company and were being sent to the correct address
"The fact that she happens to be a pharmacist does not make Ms. Chin responsible for the actions or in-actions of the corporation," Griffin wrote.
Federal prosecutors, however, point to prescriptions processed by Chin and Thomas with obviously fictitious names like Filet O Fish, Rug Doctor and Chester Cheeto. The acquittal motions are flawed and without merit and simply repeat arguments already rejected by the judge and the jury, the prosecutors contend.
The filings by Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Varghese and Amanda Strachan charge that Thomas and Chin played indispensable roles in NECC's fraudulent schemes. They also noted jurors found that the two acted with intent to defraud and deceit.
Stearns earlier acquitted both Thomas and Chin of some of the charges, but his ruling was reversed and the charges reinstated by an appeals court.
Last week Stearns re-set sentencing hearings for the two defendants. Chin's session is set for Oct. 17 and Thomas for the next day. Previously he canceled the original August sentencing dates.
Chin was convicted of four counts of violating the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act while Thomas was convicted of two counts.
Chin is the wife of Glenn Chin, who was a supervising pharmacist at NECC.
Glenn Chin was convicted of racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud in 2017 and is serving an eight year sentence at a federal prison in Pennsylvania.
Two other NECC defendants are also in federal custody following their conviction on charges stemming from the 20114 indictment.
NECC president and part owner Barry J. Cadden is serving a nine year sentence on racketeering and mail fraud charges while Gene Svirskiy is serving a 2.5 year sentence on racketeering and mail fraud charges.
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