Ex-NJ Firefighters Sentenced In Health Care Fraud Scheme

WEST DEPTFORD, NJ - Two New Jersey residents and former firefighters were sentenced to years in state prison for their roles in a health care conspiracy that defrauded state health benefits programs, federal authorities said.

Former Margate firefighter Thomas Sher, 50, of Northfield, was sentenced to 8 years in prison, while Christopher Broccoli, 51, of West Deptford, was sentenced to 2 years in prison, Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna said.

Sher was found guilty on Sept. 8, 2022, of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of health care fraud following a 12-day trial. Broccoli, a Camden firefighter, pleaded guilty on July 28, 2022 to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, Khanna said.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, Sher and Christopher Broccoli, 50, of West Deptford, were part of a criminal conspiracy where state and local government employees were recruited and compensated to receive “medically unnecessary” compound prescription medications, Khanna said.

Sher and conspirators recruited nearly 70 people into the scheme and led the pharmacy benefits administrator to pay out more than $7 million for medically unnecessary compound prescription medications. Sher received around $115,000 from the scheme; Broccoli received about $150,315.

A district court judge also found that Sher obstructed justice when he lied during his trial testimony and when he attempted to tamper with witnesses and devise a cover-up story in advance of trial.

50 people have been charged in the overarching conspiracy, and 46 defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.

The scheme's leader, William Hickman, pleaded guilty in June 2020 to defrauding New Jersey health benefits programs and other insurers out of more than $50 million and is awaiting sentencing, Khanna said.

Two others involved, also from Atlantic County, previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud in the same scheme. Read More: 2 Atlantic Co. Men Admit To Health Care Fraud: Officials