It may not be a household name, but the feds say that Injured Workers Pharmacy is the largest purchaser of opioids among retail pharmacies in the U.S. — and that they’re on a $10 million hook for distributing the drugs regardless of obvious “red flags.”
“Last week brought disturbing reports that opioid overdose deaths only increased last year in Massachusetts. Pharmacies are on the front lines of the prescription pill and opioid epidemic devastating our communities,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy. “Pharmacies that distribute dangerous prescription pills have a solemn responsibility to comply with measures enacted to curb abuse and addiction.”
Federal prosecutors reached an agreement with the Andover-based mail-order pharmacy that makes the company admit that between 2014 and 2019 it ignored “red flags” that its clients displayed that indicated their opioid prescriptions may not have been issued legitimately. Those indications include high doses, early refills and dangerous prescription drugs medleys doctors would be unlikely to legitimately prescribe together, according to the agreement.
The problem didn’t just stop at the dangers toward their clients’ well-being, as the U.S. Department of Labor says the IWP “enriched themselves” by submitting false claims to the agency for more than a year and a half, from Dec. 12, 2017 and Sept. 26, 2019, according to Jonathan Mellone, the special agent in charge of the Department’s Office of Inspector General for the northeast region.
The IWP submitted claims for payment to the Labor Department, which administers the federal workers’ compensation program that were flagrantly in disregard for the Drug Utilization Review process started by the Department in 2017 to curb opioid abuse. This process required that IWP confer with prescribers over claims flagged by the DOL, which the company did not actually do.
Under the agreement, the pharmacy will submit to a five-year corrective action plan, which includes a provision in which the Drug Enforcement Administration can conduct unannounced inspections.
The Boston Police Department is searching for suspects in two separate incidents.
The first incident is an aggravated assault they say occurred at around 8 p.m. on June 3 in the area of Kingsdale Street in Dorchester. During this assault, police say, a woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries during an attack following a brief exchange as she walked toward her parked car. In this attack, the police have released surveillance camera stills of two female suspects.
Police ask that anyone with information on these suspects or this incident contact District B-3 Detectives at (617) 343-4712.
The other incident is a non-fatal stabbing police say happened around 338 Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester at around 8:40 p.m. on Monday. They have released an image of a suspect of one male suspect in this case.
Police ask that anyone with information contact District B-2 Detectives at (617) 343-4275.
A Lakeville liquor store employee has pleaded not guilty to stealing a customer’s winning $3 million lottery ticket when he inadvertently left it at the store counter.
Carly Nunes, 23, of Lakeville, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Brockton Superior Court to charges of larceny from a building, attempted larceny, presentation of a false claim and witness intimidation. She was ordered held in lieu of $10,000 cash bail.
The other store employee who allegedly drove her to claim the prize at the State Lottery’s headquarters in Dorchester, Joseph Reddem, 32, of Randolph, pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted extortion on June 12 and was released. Both are scheduled to return to court on July 26.
A man walked into the then-named Savas Liquors — which according to address records is now the Lakeville Liquor and Market — on Jan. 17 and placed a $12 order of a bag of barbecue potato chips, and a total of four lottery tickets. But, according to the Plymouth District Attorney’s office, he left the tickets in the store.
A few items made lottery officials suspicious of Nunes’ prize claim: the ticket was ripped and had been a little burned and officials allegedly heard Nunes and Reddem arguing in the lobby over what Reddem’s cut would be, with Nunes saying she would only pay him $200,000. The lottery officials told her they would announce an investigation when they didn’t buy her explanations.
Lisa Robinson Pircio Heino, formerly of Easton and now of Neport, R.I., was convicted last week of ripping off an “elderly incompetent man” for more than $52,000 from March 2017 through May of 2018, a month after she had been removed as his fiduciary conservator. She was convicted of a similar crime in federal court last year.
“I am pleased the defendant was held accountable for breaching her duty of trust to an elderly victim who she had a legal responsibility to care for,” said Bristol DA Thomas Quinn III in a statement following the verdict.
Fall River Superior Court Judge Raffi Yessayan ordered Heino to three years of probation and that she pay full restitution for her crime.
Probate and Family Court, after learning that the victim’s nursing home was not being paid, removed Heino as conservator to her victim and appointed a new attorney.
Heino signed a plea agreement for a similar case in federal court in Boston on May 31, 2022, pleading guilty to two counts of theft of government money. U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock sentenced her to two months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release including a period of home confinement, according to court records.
