Poughkeepsie Teacher Charged With Selling Oxycodone Near School
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Hudson Valley substitute teacher stood charged Wednesday with selling oxycodone just steps from the Poughkeepsie high school where he was working.
Vincent Lynch, 26, of Wappinger Falls, was charged with multiple felony drug charges, including criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds.
Lynch was arrested on a warrant issued in Dutchess County, after New York State Police pulled him over in East Fishkill. As of Wednesday evening, he was being held without bond at the Dutchess County Jail.
State police said Lynch had been selling oxycodone pills while working as a substitute teacher at the City of Poughkeepsie High School. The sales took place within 1,000 feet of the school when classes were in session, state police said.
The warrant for Lynch's arrest was issued after undercover state police investigators allegedly bought the drug from him several times during the last weeks of the school year.
Yonkers Doctor Gets Over 3 Years For Selling Same Drug
The announcement of Lynch's arrest came the same day as a Yonkers doctor was sentenced to three more than years in prison for selling the same drug.
As WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported, Felix Rodriguez, 52, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for his part in an oxycodone drug ring.
Yonkers Doctor Convicted In Oxycodone Ring
U.S. Attorney Preet Bhahara sai the abuse of prescription pain medication is the fastest-growing drug problem in the country, killing more people than heroin and cocaine combined. The epidemic is fueled by crooked doctors, he said.
Rodriguez was convicted of peddling large quantities of oxycodone from a medical office in Manhattan – prescribing to patients who had no medical need for the addictive painkillers.
He wrote prescriptions to people he had never met or examined, who in turn distributed the drug in the streets, prosecutors said.
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