Former Mercer Pharmacist Found Guilty Of Illegal Oxycodone Distribution: Feds

MERCER COUNTY, NJ — A former Mercer County pharmacist was convicted Wednesday for her role in a conspiracy to distribute, outside of her professional practice, large quantities of controlled substances, including oxycodone, from a pharmacy formerly located in Trenton, New Jersey, Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said Thursday.

Florence Ndubizu, 64, of Princeton Junction, was convicted of two counts of an indictment charging her with conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense Schedule II controlled substances, including oxycodone, between 2014 and 2017 and maintaining a premises for the illegal distribution of controlled substances. A third count of unlawful distribution of controlled substances was dismissed before trial. The jury returned the guilty verdict following a two-week trial.

Ndubizu’s husband, Gordian A. Ndubizu, the co-owner of Healthcare Pharmacy, was separately convicted of tax evasion offenses after a jury trial in August 2024.

Gordian A. Ndubizu was not charged with controlled substance offenses.

According to court documents, between 2014 and 2017, Ndubizu was the co-owner and pharmacist-in-charge of Healthcare Pharmacy in Trenton. She and her employee filled fraudulent prescriptions knowing that the drugs would not be used for a legitimate medical purpose, but instead would be illegally diverted, including to street-level drug dealers.

Ndubizu, operating a single-location pharmacy, purchased and distributed millions of dosage units of oxycodone, including over 800,000 pills in 2014; over 900,000 pills in 2015; over 800,000 pills in 2016; and over 200,000 pills in 2017, the year that the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) suspended the pharmacy’s registration, court documents said.

Ndubizu diverted oxycodone pills and then evaded state and federal reporting requirements by manipulating the pharmacy’s records, officials said.

The DEA conducted an audit of Healthcare Pharmacy’s inventory and found that between April 2015 and August 2017 alone, Ndubizu and Healthcare Pharmacy diverted more than 64,000 oxycodone containing pills, according to court documents.

The conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

The charge of maintaining Healthcare Pharmacy as a drug-involved premises carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

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