Former Monongahela pharmacist pleads guilty in Federal court to illegal drug scam of imported misbraded drugs from Canada; will forfeit $1.45 million

By Jeremy Sellew 

Published: Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013, 12:01 a.m.Updated 8 hours ago

A former Monongahela pharmacist pleaded guilty Tuesday for his role in a prescription drug-smuggling investigation that began in June 2011.

Bryan R. Polomoscanik, 40, of Greensburg, entered his plea in the United States District Court in Pittsburgh before Judge Cathy Bissoon.

Polomoscanik pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and conspiracy to launder money during the time he worked at Dierken's Pharmacy in Monongahela.

According to court documents filed by U.S. Attorney, David J. Hickton, and Assistant U.S. Attorney, Nelson P. Cohen, Polomoscanik committed the offenses “around October 2007 and continuing thereafter to on or about June 14, 2011.”

It was that day that agents from the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrived at Dierken's at 100 E. Main St., Monongahela, shortly after 9 a.m. causing the store to close for over six hours as they sifted through and seized numerous items as evidence.

The former owner, Jeffrey Markovitz, pleaded guilty to the same two counts in January.

Polomoscanik, who owns Rostraver Drug Store located on Circle Drive, is currently free on $10,000 unsecured bond and is scheduled to appear before Bissoon at 10 a.m. May 1 for sentencing.

Court documents show that he has paid $50,000 in fines and $200 in “special assessments” on each count.

According to a plea agreement, Polomoscanik will be required to forfeit $1.45 million to the governement for “ill-gotten gains.”

He paid, by check, over $620,000 of that amount on Tuesday.

The pair were charged after it was discovered they were importing misbranded drugs from Canada which were packaged in small parcels to avoid detection by U.S. Customs.

During that four year period, Polomoscanik ordered drugs from Canada and paid for them using checks on three different occasions. One order, in particular, was over $86,000, according to court records.

Penalties that could be imposed on Polomoscanik include up to five years imprisonment for the conspiracy charge and up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy to money launder count.

If the sentence includes imprisonment, a period of supervised release of not more than three years on each charge could be imposed.

Markovitz, who will be sentenced May 13, and Polomoscanik were not listed as co-defendants in the case.

Jeremy Sellew is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at jsellew@tribweb.com or 724-684-2667.

Read more: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmonvalley/yourmonvalleymore/5238754-74/polomoscanik-guilty-conspiracy#ixzz2nGivk6Pd 
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