SEP 28 (LONG ISLAND,
N.Y.) Earlier
today, a superseding indictment
was unsealed charging Long Island
physician William J. Conway with
causing the deaths of two patients
through the distribution of the
highly addictive pain-killer
oxycodone. The superseding indictment
also charges Conway’s former
office assistant, Robert Hachemeister,
with conspiracy and distribution
of oxycodone. Hachemeister was
arrested by federal agents this
morning and is scheduled to be
arraigned later today before
United States District Judge
Leonard D. Wexler, at the U.S.
Courthouse in Central Islip,
New York.
The charges and arrest were announced
by Brian R. Crowell, Special Agent
in Charge of the Drug Enforcement
Administration, New York Field
Office, Loretta E. Lynch, the United
States Attorney for the Eastern
District of New York, and Thomas
V. Dale, Commissioner, Nassau County
Police Department.
On June 6, 2012, as part of a
federal and state prescription
drug abuse initiative within the
Eastern District of New York, Conway
was arrested by members of a task
force comprising DEA special agents
and Nassau County Police Department
detectives on charges of illegally
distributing oxycodone to numerous
individuals between 2009 and 2012.
Conway has been in custody since
his arrest. According to court
filings and records of the New
York State Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement, Conway issued 5,554
oxycodone prescriptions – 782,032
pills – to numerous individuals
between January 2009 and November
2011, who the defendant knew were
addicted to drugs and without performing
any meaningful medical examination.
The charges announced today are
merely allegations, and the defendants
are presumed innocent unless and
until proven guilty. During the
execution of a federal search warrant
at his offices on February 29,
2012, Conway voluntarily surrendered
his DEA registration authorizing
him to prescribe controlled substances.
However, he continued to issue
prescriptions after that date.
The superseding indictment unsealed
today charges Conway
with causing the deaths
of two Long Island men to whom
he had distributed oxycodone. According
to court filings by
the government: (1) On April 23,
2011, Giovanni
Manzella died of an overdose of
oxycodone less than 48 hours after
Conway provided him with two prescriptions
totaling 450 pills
of the drug; and (2) On October
27, 2011, Christopher Basmas was
pronounced dead of an overdose
of oxycodone and other narcotics
two days after Conway provided
him with a prescription for 180
pills of oxycodone.
Patient records seized in this
case reveal that patients who obtained
oxycodone prescriptions received
nothing more than perfunctory examinations,
essentially consisting of notations
of the patient’s height,
weight and blood pressure. After
Basmas’s death, Conway allegedly
attempted to alter various patient
files, and continued to issue prescriptions
for oxycodone and other controlled
substances, in some instances in
the names of individuals he had
never treated or even met. Hachemeister,
who worked as an office assistant
for Conway since approximately
1995, possesses no medical or nursing
degree. However, between 2011 and
2012, he allegedly distributed
thousands of oxycodone pills using
prescription pads that were pre-signed
by Conway. Hachemeister is charged
with conspiring with Conway to
illegally distribute oxycodone,
and both men are charged together
in 34 counts of distribution of
oxycodone. Conway is also charged
in eight additional counts with
the distribution of the controlled
substances hydrocodone and alprazolam.
“Sworn to do no harm, Conway
allegedly turned his back on his
patients’ real needs and
turned instead to the pursuit of
easy money. The charges unsealed
today reflect the tragic consequences
of prescription drug trafficking
and abuse,” stated United
States Attorney Lynch. “This
Office, with its state and federal
law enforcement partners, will
continue to attack this menace
which has risen to epidemic proportions
in our nation and in our communities.”
DEA Special Agent in Charge Crowell
stated, “Today’s indictment
signifies that the abuse of prescription
drugs can lead to death from a
doctor’s office or from distribution
on the streets. In this case, these
individuals allegedly abused the
sanctuary of a doctor’s office
in order to illegally prescribe
pain medication for the use of
abuse and drug distribution.”
Nassau County Police Commissioner
Dale stated, “The Nassau
County Police Department will continue
to work closely with both state
and federal agencies through the
use of the Tactical Diversion Squad
created to combat the ever increasing
rise in the illegal use of prescription
drugs. Our focus will be to investigate
and arrest all individuals involved
in illegally supplying prescriptions
to drug addicted patients with
full knowledge of their dependency.”
If convicted of causing the Manzella
or Basmas deaths, Conway faces
a mandatory-minimum of 20 years’ imprisonment
and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Both Conway and Hachemeister face
a maximum sentence of 20 years
in prison on the remaining charges.
The government’s case is
being prosecuted by Assistant United
States Attorneys Sean C. Flynn
and Michael P. Canty. In January
2012, the United States Attorney’s
Office for the Eastern
District of
New York and the DEA,
in conjunction with
the five District Attorneys in
this district, the Nassau and Suffolk
County Police Departments, and
the New York City Police Department,
along with other key federal, state,
and local government partners,
launched the Prescription Drug
Initiative to mount a comprehensive
response to what the
U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services’ Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
has called an epidemic increase
in the abuse of so-called opioid
analgesics. So far, the Prescription
Drug Initiative has brought over
100 federal and local criminal
prosecutions, taken civil enforcement
action against a pharmacy, removed
prescription authority from numerous
rogue doctors, and expanded information-sharing
among enforcement agencies to better
target and pursue drug traffickers.
The Initiative is also involved
in an extensive community outreach
program to address the abuse of
pharmaceuticals. DEA and its national,
tribal, and community partners
will hold a fifth National Prescription
Drug Take Back Day at thousands
of collection sites across the
country on Saturday, September
29th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Anyone
with expired, unused, or unwanted
prescription drugs can environmentally
dispose of them at locations found
at www.dea.gov.
The Defendants:
WILLIAM J. CONWAY
Age: 69
Residence: Flushing,
NY
ROBERT HACHEMEISTER
Age: 67
Residence: Baldwin,
NY
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