newjerseynewsroom.com

They took part in scheme out of Newark pharmacy

Two former Newark pharmacists have pleaded guilty for their roles in a scheme in which pharmacy owners and employees allegedly bought completed prescription forms for HIV/AIDS drugs from indigent patients so Medicaid could be billed for drugs that were never dispensed.

Nadeem Akhtar, 62, and Omar Mohammad, 34, both of Upper Saddle River, pleaded guilty to third-degree Medicaid fraud before state Superior Court Judge Martin Cronin in Newark, state Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Chillemi said Tuesday. The charges were contained in an Oct. 26, 2009 state grand jury indictment.

Cronin scheduled sentencing for Jan. 20. Under plea agreementa, the state will recommend Akhtar be sentenced to 90 days county jail as a condition of probation and Mohammad be sentenced to probation.

In pleading guilty, Akhtar, who was a licensed pharmacist at Orange Drugs in Newark, admitted that between May 11, 2006 and Oct. 15, 2008 he offered bribes to Medicaid beneficiaries to induce them to bring their prescriptions to Orange Drugs. Mohammad, also a licensed pharmacist at Orange Drugs, pleaded guilty to knowingly submitting claims to the Medicaid program for drugs that were not dispensed.

The cases are part of Operation PharmScam, which revealed that six pharmacies and two medical clinics in Jersey City and Newark participated in a multi-million dollar conspiracy to defraud Medicaid. The investigation involved more than 25 individuals, including pharmacists, doctors, physician assistants, pharmacy technicians and Medicaid beneficiaries. Under this scheme, the pharmacies were billing Medicaid for high priced AIDS/HIV and specialty drugs that were never ordered from the wholesalers or dispensed to the beneficiaries.

Det. Kevin Gannon, former Deputy Attorney General Sherry Wilson, Deputy Attorneys General Debra Conrad, Cynthia Vazquez, David Noble and Dolores Blackburn handled the investigation.

—TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM