Crime & Safety
New Jersey Physician Charged With Five Others For Running Prescription Drug Ring
A suspended Monmouth Co. physician was busted along with five others for selling forged Oxycodone prescriptions for $300 to $400, police say
Detectives have dismantled a prescription drug ring run by a suspended physician Thursday night following a monthlong investigation, announced Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
Six people were arrested for their respective roles in a prescription drug ring, including Dr. Kenneth Lewandowski, 51, of Tatum Drive in Middletown, who is charged with six counts of third degree Conspiracy, six counts of third degree Forgery and the Unlawful Practice of Medicine – a third degree crime.
Lewandowski is being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold Township, on $140,000 bail, as set by Middletown Municipal Court Judge Richard Thompson.
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The investigation was run by Middletown Township Police Department working with investigators from the OAG and the state Division of Consumer Affairs
A search warrant was executed Wednesday on Lewandowski’s Middletown residence following the month-long investigation prompted by a tip from a local pharmacy reporting a subject presented a fraudulent prescription attempting to obtain Oxycodone on November 24, 2014.
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“Investigations like this are important in our fight against prescription drug abuse and fighting the heroin epidemic,” Gramiccioni said. “Prescription opiates like Oxycodone are a familiar path on the highway of drug abuse – and it usually leads straight to heroin addiction. Doctors are sworn to properly care for people and make them better not to feed the addictions of those enslaved by prescription opiates and heroin.”
Middletown Township Detectives Daniel Sullivan and Keith Hirschbein conducted the initial investigation which resulted in information being developed that implicated numerous patients, as well as Dr. Lewandowski and Thomas Menendez acting as his business partner being involved in the unlawful distribution of fraudulent prescriptions for Oxycodone.
“Drug addiction is a menace to our society. The Middletown Police Department remains firmly committed to working closely with our law enforcement partners to apprehend and prosecute anyone involved in illegal drug sales. This case is a great example of how law enforcement is working together to address this deadly issue,” said Middletown Police Chief R. Craig Weber.
The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs (DCA) also received a complaint from the licensed doctor whose prescription blanks were being utilized by the prescription drug ring without his knowledge.
The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics and Criminal Enterprise Unit worked with detectives and the state DCA to investigate the licensed doctor’s complaint and the complaint from the pharmacies in Middletown Township. Dr. Lewandowski and Menendez were quickly identified as the people behind the prescription drug ring using the cover of a medical clinic to dupe the unsuspecting doctor into releasing the personal information necessary for them to complete the forgery of prescription blanks in his name.
During the investigation it was learned that Dr. Kenneth Lewandowski, whose license to practice medicine and surgery is currently under a temporary suspension by DCA, conspired with Menendez to sell forged prescription blanks for Oxycodone. They obtained prescription pads in the name of a licensed doctor without consent and then sold the prescription blanks for cash without any type of medical assessment of need.
Dr. Lewandowski’s old patient files from his now defunct pain management practice in Red Bank, were utilized to find subjects eager to purchase the forged prescriptions for a price of $300 to $400 per prescription. The prescriptions were filled out by Dr. Lewandowski in the name of the licensed doctor without his knowledge.
“We cannot fail to recognize that drug dealers don’t just hang out on street corners or in parking lots. Sometimes drug dealers wear familiar uniforms, have specialized degrees and they live and work within our communities,” Gramiccioni added. “Our preconceived stereotypes are challenged when a trained physician turns his back on his duty to save lives so he can rake in cash at the expense of others enslaved by these drugs.”
During the search of Dr. Lewandowski’s residence numerous forged prescription blanks were recovered, as well as medical records, and cash.
Menendez, 50, of Geary Drive in Middletown, is charged with six counts of third degree Conspiracy and six counts of third degree Forgery. He is being held on $30,000 bail, as set by Judge Thompson.
Police also arrested Robert Ruvolo, 40, of Walker Terrace in Middletown; Arthur Deeken, 32, of Chapin Avenue in Red Bank; Paul Boschi, 55, of Swartzel Drive in Middletown; and William Coffey, 33, of Leonardville Road in Leonardo, for purchasing the fraudulent prescriptions from Lewandowski and Menendez. Donna Phillips, 28, of Lane F in Hazlet, was also charged by the Holmdel Police Department as a result of the information developed during the investigation.
Ruvolo, Coffey, Boschi, Deeken and Phillips were all charged with third degree Obtaining a Controlled Dangerous Substance by Fraud and were all released pending a court date.
If convicted of the third degree offenses, each of the defendants will face a sentence of three to five years in a New Jersey state prison.
Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.
The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Paul Alexander, of the Office’s Narcotics and Criminal Enterprises Unit.
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