Two pharmacists convicted in final New England Compounding trial
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The former home of New England Compounding Center on Waverly Street in Framingham
Two more pharmacists who worked at the New England Compounding Center in Framingham have been convicted for their role in a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak in 2012 killing more than 100.
Both verification pharmacists at the facility were convicted of dispensing drugs without valid prescriptions with the intent to defraud or mislead government regulators. Kathy S. Chin of Canton was convicted on four counts, and Michelle L. Thomas of Cumberland, R.I., on two counts, with the convictions taking place Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boston.
The two pharmacists are scheduled to be sentenced in August.
Another court decision took place last week against another NECC employee.
Alla Stepanets of Framingham was sentenced to one year of probation. In December, Stepanets, a licensed pharmacist, who worked as another verification pharmacist at the center, was convicted of six counts of dispensing drugs without valid prescriptions. She was convicted of approving shipments of drugs for patients with fake names or celebrities.
Chin and Thomas were found to have approving shipments of drugs for patients with fictional or celebrity names. They routinely dispensed drugs without valid prescriptions.
Thursday's convictions of Chin and Thomas were the fourth and final trial resulting from 2014 indictments of those involved in the contaminated drug case, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts, which announced the decisions. With their convictions, 13 defendants have now been convicted on 178 charges in the case.
In 2017, Barry Cadden, the former owner and head pharmacist for NECC, was sentenced to nine years in prison and three years of supervised release after being convicted of racketeering, mail fraud and other charges. Last year, Glenn Chin, NECC’s former supervisory pharmacist, was sentenced to eight years in prison and two years of supervised release after being convicted of 77 counts.
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