Feds: Couple sold millions in illegal oxycodone via NYC pharmacies
NEW YORK -- Federal prosecutors have accused a husband and wife team of illegally selling millions of dollars of the painkiller oxycodone out of their pharmacies in Brooklyn and Queens.
CBS New York reports that, according to a six-count indictment, registered pharmacist Lilian Jakacki and her husband, Marcin, distributed 500,000 oxycodone pills over a 5-year period with an estimated street value of $10 million out of their pharmacies, which operated under the name Chopin Chemists.
"From 2010 to 2012 its Brooklyn location was the number one purchaser of oxycodone in the entire area covered by that zip code," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
Lilian Jakacki is accused of the distribution and directing others to illegally provide the pills on fraudulent prescriptions; her husband is accused of helping to arrange the sales.
"Some pills they sold based on stolen and fraudulent prescriptions, other times they just sold oxycodone without asking for prescriptions at all," Bharara said.
Prosecutors have also charged Robert Cybulski, who was allegedly one of the couple's regular customers. Cybulski is accused of obtaining tens of thousands of pills over the five years beginning in March 2010.
Bharara said the couple earned enough money from the sales to purchase a $2 million home in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Among the charges the three face are conspiracy to distribute narcotics and money laundering.