SENTENCED: Union County Doctor Conspired With Drug Dealer, Wrote Fraudulent Oxycodone Prescriptions

A 56-year-old Roselle Park doctor has been sentenced to five years in state prison after he conspired with a drug dealer to write fraudulent prescriptions for highly addictive painkillers to patients he had never examined, treated, or even met.

An investigation by the DEA’s New Jersey Field Division Tactical Diversion Squad and the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice Prescription Fraud Investigation Strike Team discovered that from January 2012 to March 2014, Dr. Eugene Evans Jr. wrote prescriptions for over a dozen people, which totaled more than 20,000 high-dose 30 milligram tablets of oxycodone, according to a press release from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

He was arrested in January and pleaded guilty on April 24 to second-degree distribution of a controlled dangerous substance. He has since surrendered his license to practice medicine.

Evans was paid to write the prescriptions by 44-year-old Marlboro Township resident David Roth.

According to the release, Roth would recruit individuals willing to have prescriptions written in their name and then supply those names and birth dates to Evans. In return, Evans would write out multiple prescriptions at a time for each “patient” and hand them over to Roth.

Those recruited would then go to the pharmacy to have the prescriptions filled with Roth in exchange for cash, narcotics, or both. Once in his possession, Roth illegally distributed the pills for about $20- $30 for each 30 milligram oxycodone tablet.

Roth pleaded guilty second-degree distribution of narcotics on June 12 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 28. Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Roth be sentenced to seven years in state prison.

A third defendant, Harold Nyhus, 53, of Freehold, pleaded guilty on April 24 to a charge of third-degree obtaining a controlled dangerous substance by fraud. He admitted that he filled fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone at a pharmacy that Evans issued in his name and a second person’s name. The state will recommend that Nyhus be sentenced to three years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 2.

State officials responded to the crimes committed by Evans in the press release by stating:

“By diverting highly addictive oxycodone pills into the black market, this doctor chose to enrich himself at the expense of the many individuals whose lives are being ruined – and in many cases taken – by the epidemic of opiate abuse in New Jersey,” said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “He callously made himself part of the problem, instead of living up to his professional oath to heal, not harm people.”

“Because of the work of our new Prescription Fraud Investigation Strike Team, this corrupt doctor will go to prison,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We will continue to join forces with our law enforcement partners to target profiteers in the healthcare professions who divert prescription narcotics for illicit distribution.”

Carl J. Kotowski, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division said, “This doctor is now paying a steep price for disregarding the oath he took to help people. He will now have the next five years to think about those choices.”

Acting Attorney General Hoffman and Director Honig noted that the Division of Criminal Justice has a toll-free tip line 1-866-TIPS-4CJ for the public to report crimes. Additionally, the public can log on to the Division of Criminal Justice Web page at www.njdcj.org to report suspected wrongdoing. All information received through the tip line or webpage will remain confidential.