LI Doctor Accused Of Supplying Illegal Painkiller Prescriptions Pleads Guilty
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - One of the doctors busted by federal agents on Long Island following the Medford pharmacy massacre faced a judge Monday to enter a guilty plea.
The judge accepted the plea under terms of an agreement.
As WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs reported, Dr. Eric Jacobson faces 7 to 9 years in prison under a plea deal for illegally prescribing oxycodone and other powerful painkillers to scores of patients.
If convicted at trial, Dr. Jacobson, of Great Neck, could have been sentenced to 20 or more years in prison.
His guilty plea does not include the drugs he's charged with supplying to Medford pharmacy killer David Laffer and his wife, Melinda Brady. Laffer killed four people when he held up Haven Drugs on Father's Day 2011 to feed his prescription drug habit.
Under terms of the deal, Jacobson, 51, will also forfeit much of the $750,000 federal agents seized from him.
Jacobson was accused of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone for re-sale or diversion to addicts. Jacobson had been under investigation after two of his patients died, officials said.
He was charged along with nearly 100 others in 2012.
His attorney Bruce Barket said Jacobson has no previous criminal record and was not accused of prescribing drugs to minors.
"To work out a resolution where the jail time is capped and money will be returned to his family so his wife can support his children while he's away, it was very important," Barket said. "He was facing 262 counts that exposed him to literally a lifetime in prison."
Jacobson will formally be sentenced in November, Xirinachs reported.
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