Probation Urged for Final NECC Defendants

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Federal prosecutors are recommending a sentence of two years probation with no jail time for the two final defendants in the criminal case stemming from a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak.
In an 11-page filing today in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass., the U.S. Attorneys office asked U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to impose the identical sentences on Michelle Thomas and Kathy Chin, who were both employed at the New England Compounding Center, the company blamed for the 2012 outbreak. Both were licensed pharmacists at the time of their employment
Chin and Thomas were both convicted of violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act when they approved the shipment of drugs with prescriptions made out for obviously fake named patients.
The two were among 14 indicted in December of 2014 following a two year probe of the outbreak. Three of those 14 are now serving federal prison sentences.
Alla Stepanets, another of the 14 who held a similar job to Thomas and Chin, was given a sentence of one year of probation.
In the filing today Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Strachan wrote that while the crimes committed by Chin and Thomas were not as serious as those committed by other pharmacists working at NECC, their crimes "were an abuse of the position of trust that each held as a licensed pharmacist."
Stating that the issuance of prescription drugs in bulk without valid prescriptions put patients at risk, the brief adds that the Thomas and Chin's "intentional misconduct allowed NECC to perpetuate fraud."
Chin and Thomas "turned their backs on their responsibilities as licensed pharmacists," the filing continues.
Citing the trial testimony of Samuel Penta, a Massachusetts Pharmacy Board official, the brief states that the jobs performed by Thomas and Chin, final verification, was "a necessary step in the process."
Prescriptions approved by the two were made out for patients named Chester Cheeto, L.L. Bean and Coco Puff, the brief adds.
Charging that there were obvious red flags the two defendants ignored, Strachan noted that neither of them had accepted responsibility for their actions.
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