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Showing posts with label Signature Compounding Pharmacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Signature Compounding Pharmacy. Show all posts
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Friday, February 8, 2013
Plea deal ends years-long steroids case No individual criminal charges against operators of former Florida pharmacy Times Union Copyright 2013 Times Union. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. By Brendan J. Lyons Updated 10:47 pm, Friday, February 8, 2013
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Monday, September 3, 2012
New details in DA's admonishment in Signature Pharmacy case
Soares' characterization in pharmacy case earned criticism, papers show
By James M. Odato
Published 10:02 p.m., Wednesday, August 29, 2012
ALBANY — With two weeks to go before Primary Day, a sworn deposition from Albany County District Attorney David Soares offers new details about his secret admonishments by a judicial panel that criticized him for publicly characterizing defendants in a steroid case as drug dealers and for discussing the investigation of a local police chief.
In a 145-page transcript of sworn testimony from Soares, the two-term Democrat seeking re-election this year sparred with an attorney for owners of Signature Compounding Pharmacy, who though facing indictment are suing Soares for defamation.
Soares was twice admonished by a state judicial panel for inappropriate comments by the district attorney that were later published in the newspaper, according to a legal records filed in federal court in Florida on Tuesday. The deposition and other documents were shared with reporters covering Soares' primary campaign against Lee Kindlon. The two will square off in a Sept. 13 primary.
The promptly produced transcript from last week's testimony shows Soares was admonished for characterizing those involved with Signature Pharmacy as akin to Tony Montana, the fictional cocaine kingpin in the movie "Scarface." Soares made the comments in an interview about the illegal pharmaceutical industry and Signature's lawyers contend the comments harmed their reputations. The plaintiffs accused Soares of defamation and the deposition was taken as part of that legal case. The case is slated to go to trial in February. Five operators of the pharmacy face felony charges after allegedly being implicated in a steroids distribution network.
During questioning, Soares also revealed a separate admonishment was for comments he made about Guilderland Chief James R. Murley to a Times Union editorial board. In October 2008, Soares was quoted as saying Murley, who was accused of defrauding the government by going to a casino while on public time, was in discussions about a plea bargain. In October 2009, Murley pleaded guilty to misdemeanor, admitting that on more than 50 occasions he claimed to have been working when he was actually gambling at an Oneida County casino.
The admonishment letters have never been revealed to the public. Soares told the attorney who questioned him that he shredded the admonishments and could not provide them.
Soares' testimony took place on Aug. 24.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/New-details-in-DA-s-admonishment-3825865.php#ixzz25A31tH2P
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Medisca, Inc. and Signature Compounding Pharmacy: Overview of Criminal Case
Here is another example of a compounding pharmacy, Signature Compounding Pharmacy, charged in a criminal case. Signature was located in Orlando, Florida but the criminal case was brought in Albany, New York. The Florida Department of Health filed administrative complaints against the pharmacy for improper distribution of human growth hormone but never pursued the charges. Signature closed down after the indictment. A Plattsburgh pharmaceutical company, Medisca Inc., and its president, a Canadian citizen, both pleaded guilty to misdemeanor federal drug charges for mislabeling more than $1 million worth of human growth hormone that was imported from China and distributed to pharmacies around the country. Signature Compounding Pharmacy was among the customers of Medisca, Inc, which had corporate offices in St. Laurent, Quebec. This case has led to 17 convictions. The remaining case is against Naomi Loomis; her husband, Robert "Stan" Loomis; his brother, Kenneth Michael Loomis; Kirk Calvert; and Anthony Palladino.
Soares defends steroids case
Albany prosecutor cites factual errors in federal ruling; rejects bias claim
By BRENDAN J. LYONS Senior writer
Published 05:00 a.m., Monday, September 13, 2010
ALBANY -- Prosecutors have asked an Albany judge to forge ahead with a criminal trial for five Florida pharmacy operators accused of being at the center of an alleged illegal steroids business. It's a part of a case that drew national interest in 2007, but that has since brought attacks on the Albany County district attorney's office.
The remaining criminal case, which targets the pharmacist-owners of Orlando's former Signature Compounding Pharmacy, has languished for three years following an interstate law enforcement raid in February 2007 -- spearheaded by Albany County prosecutors -- that exposed illicit steroid use by professional athletes and others.
More than 15 people, including doctors and business owners, pleaded guilty to related drug charges in a case that exposed systemic abuse of prescription drug laws. But the case against the pharmacists and their managers, who were also targets of a related federal criminal investigation, has thrust a spotlight on District Attorney David Soares' decision to indict operators of a faraway company that did a small percentage of its multi-million-dollar business in New York state and Albany County.
Two years ago an Albany County judge threw out the first indictment against the pharmacy's operators, citing prosecutorial missteps in the grand jury proceedings. A month later, the pharmacists fought back with a federal civil rights lawsuit in Florida seeking millions of dollars in damages for false arrest and malicious prosecution. They sued Soares, an assistant district attorney, the Orlando Police Department and other law enforcement officials.
But their criminal case in New York was not over. Earlier this year a state appellate court reversed a portion of the county judge's dismissal order that barred prosecutors from bringing a new indictment, which they did in June.
Last month defense attorneys for the five Signature defendants asked the same judge who dismissed the first case, County Judge Stephen W. Herrick, to do it again. This time, they claimed similar grand jury problems and also pointed repeatedly to a scathing analysis of the investigation last June by a federal judge in Florida, whose ruling has the civil rights lawsuit on course for a jury trial in Florida
"Soares not only participated in, but directed (assistant District Attorney Christopher) Baynes and others to violate plaintiffs' Fourth Amendment right to be free from unlawful arrests," wrote the federal judge, Gregory A. Presnell. "Rather than wait for any documentary evidence that plaintiffs had committed a crime in New York and comply with the very limited requirements of federal and state extradition statutes, Soares decided to orchestrate Plaintiffs' arrests without valid New York warrants and, in the process, garner significant media attention."
Last week, Christopher D. Horn, special counsel to the Albany County district attorney, filed a 34-page motion that seeks to uphold the latest 33-count indictment. It also accuses the federal judge of making numerous factual errors. Horn's written statement marks the first detailed response to Presnell's searing criticism of the Albany district attorney's investigation.
Lawyers in the criminal case are subject to a gag order and were unable to comment for this report.
Prosecutors and investigators have previously characterized Signature pharmacy as a prescription mill that manufactured many of its own drugs, including steroids, that were marketed to people through "wellness clinics" that did a large volume of business through the Internet. Several people convicted in the case admitted they set up the wellness clinics that funneled prescriptions to Signature, which mailed drugs to people around the country. Some of the clinic operators said they paid doctors to write prescriptions for people who were never evaluated in person, and who had no legitimate medical need for the controlled substances, including steroids and human growth hormone.
The case, especially the fallout of its exposure of illicit drug use by athletes, shook up the pro sports world. It also was cited by former Sen. George L. Mitchell in his 2007 report on illegal steroid use in Major League Baseball.
While Signature's defense team has characterized their clients as law-abiding pharmacists who were victims of a zealous prosecutor, others convicted of dealing with them have cast doubt on that assertion.
Last year in Rhode Island, Orlando businessman Victor Martin Effron pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the illegal importation of human growth hormone from China. Federal authorities said the product was being sold to Signature pharmacy, which had contracted Effron to smuggle the drug into Florida, and marketed as approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration.
Orlando police, who were an integral part of the Signature case, asked Albany's prosecutors four years ago to join their investigation after building a criminal case from wiretaps, cooperating witnesses and evidence collected from trash bins outside Signature's pharmacy. They solicited the interest of Soares, according to court records, because the company dispensed prescriptions in New York, which has some of the strictest prescription drug laws in the nation.
Still, defense attorneys have countered that Soares, known from his position as district attorney for the state capital, only became involved in the case to thrust himself into a national spotlight. They said the new charges should be dismissed, or a special prosecutor appointed, because Soares' office has a conflict due to the related federal civil rights lawsuit that has gained traction in Orlando.
Horn, who also handles appeals for the office, countered last week that appointing a special prosecutor would set a precedent for criminal defendants to disqualify prosecutors from pursuing cases by suing them, then claiming there is a conflict.
"The defendants had been being prosecuted for the same criminal conduct for well over a year prior to the filing of their federal civil lawsuit," Horn wrote in the motion to Herrick. "Now the defendants argue that the filing of a fifth indictment is evidence of bias born of the 'conflict' which the defendants themselves manufactured. They are in no different position than they were before they filed their lawsuit. They were being prosecuted then and they are being prosecuted now."
The defendants, three of whom are licensed pharmacists in the state of Florida, are: Naomi Loomis, 37, her husband, Robert "Stan" Loomis, 59; Kenneth Michael Loomis, 62, who is Robert's brother; former business manager Kirk Calvert, 40; and former business manager Tony Palladino, 34.
Horn's motion also attacks key sections of the federal court order, and notes that days after Presnell ordered the civil case to proceed, the judge abruptly issued a corrective order dismissing the claim against a former state Health Department investigator, Mark Haskins, who had played a key role in the Signature investigation.
To read the remainder of this article, click here.
To read more about this case, click here, here, here, and here.
Soares defends steroids case
Albany prosecutor cites factual errors in federal ruling; rejects bias claim
By BRENDAN J. LYONS Senior writer
Published 05:00 a.m., Monday, September 13, 2010
ALBANY -- Prosecutors have asked an Albany judge to forge ahead with a criminal trial for five Florida pharmacy operators accused of being at the center of an alleged illegal steroids business. It's a part of a case that drew national interest in 2007, but that has since brought attacks on the Albany County district attorney's office.
The remaining criminal case, which targets the pharmacist-owners of Orlando's former Signature Compounding Pharmacy, has languished for three years following an interstate law enforcement raid in February 2007 -- spearheaded by Albany County prosecutors -- that exposed illicit steroid use by professional athletes and others.
More than 15 people, including doctors and business owners, pleaded guilty to related drug charges in a case that exposed systemic abuse of prescription drug laws. But the case against the pharmacists and their managers, who were also targets of a related federal criminal investigation, has thrust a spotlight on District Attorney David Soares' decision to indict operators of a faraway company that did a small percentage of its multi-million-dollar business in New York state and Albany County.
Two years ago an Albany County judge threw out the first indictment against the pharmacy's operators, citing prosecutorial missteps in the grand jury proceedings. A month later, the pharmacists fought back with a federal civil rights lawsuit in Florida seeking millions of dollars in damages for false arrest and malicious prosecution. They sued Soares, an assistant district attorney, the Orlando Police Department and other law enforcement officials.
But their criminal case in New York was not over. Earlier this year a state appellate court reversed a portion of the county judge's dismissal order that barred prosecutors from bringing a new indictment, which they did in June.
Last month defense attorneys for the five Signature defendants asked the same judge who dismissed the first case, County Judge Stephen W. Herrick, to do it again. This time, they claimed similar grand jury problems and also pointed repeatedly to a scathing analysis of the investigation last June by a federal judge in Florida, whose ruling has the civil rights lawsuit on course for a jury trial in Florida
"Soares not only participated in, but directed (assistant District Attorney Christopher) Baynes and others to violate plaintiffs' Fourth Amendment right to be free from unlawful arrests," wrote the federal judge, Gregory A. Presnell. "Rather than wait for any documentary evidence that plaintiffs had committed a crime in New York and comply with the very limited requirements of federal and state extradition statutes, Soares decided to orchestrate Plaintiffs' arrests without valid New York warrants and, in the process, garner significant media attention."
Last week, Christopher D. Horn, special counsel to the Albany County district attorney, filed a 34-page motion that seeks to uphold the latest 33-count indictment. It also accuses the federal judge of making numerous factual errors. Horn's written statement marks the first detailed response to Presnell's searing criticism of the Albany district attorney's investigation.
Lawyers in the criminal case are subject to a gag order and were unable to comment for this report.
Prosecutors and investigators have previously characterized Signature pharmacy as a prescription mill that manufactured many of its own drugs, including steroids, that were marketed to people through "wellness clinics" that did a large volume of business through the Internet. Several people convicted in the case admitted they set up the wellness clinics that funneled prescriptions to Signature, which mailed drugs to people around the country. Some of the clinic operators said they paid doctors to write prescriptions for people who were never evaluated in person, and who had no legitimate medical need for the controlled substances, including steroids and human growth hormone.
The case, especially the fallout of its exposure of illicit drug use by athletes, shook up the pro sports world. It also was cited by former Sen. George L. Mitchell in his 2007 report on illegal steroid use in Major League Baseball.
While Signature's defense team has characterized their clients as law-abiding pharmacists who were victims of a zealous prosecutor, others convicted of dealing with them have cast doubt on that assertion.
Last year in Rhode Island, Orlando businessman Victor Martin Effron pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the illegal importation of human growth hormone from China. Federal authorities said the product was being sold to Signature pharmacy, which had contracted Effron to smuggle the drug into Florida, and marketed as approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration.
Orlando police, who were an integral part of the Signature case, asked Albany's prosecutors four years ago to join their investigation after building a criminal case from wiretaps, cooperating witnesses and evidence collected from trash bins outside Signature's pharmacy. They solicited the interest of Soares, according to court records, because the company dispensed prescriptions in New York, which has some of the strictest prescription drug laws in the nation.
Still, defense attorneys have countered that Soares, known from his position as district attorney for the state capital, only became involved in the case to thrust himself into a national spotlight. They said the new charges should be dismissed, or a special prosecutor appointed, because Soares' office has a conflict due to the related federal civil rights lawsuit that has gained traction in Orlando.
Horn, who also handles appeals for the office, countered last week that appointing a special prosecutor would set a precedent for criminal defendants to disqualify prosecutors from pursuing cases by suing them, then claiming there is a conflict.
"The defendants had been being prosecuted for the same criminal conduct for well over a year prior to the filing of their federal civil lawsuit," Horn wrote in the motion to Herrick. "Now the defendants argue that the filing of a fifth indictment is evidence of bias born of the 'conflict' which the defendants themselves manufactured. They are in no different position than they were before they filed their lawsuit. They were being prosecuted then and they are being prosecuted now."
The defendants, three of whom are licensed pharmacists in the state of Florida, are: Naomi Loomis, 37, her husband, Robert "Stan" Loomis, 59; Kenneth Michael Loomis, 62, who is Robert's brother; former business manager Kirk Calvert, 40; and former business manager Tony Palladino, 34.
Horn's motion also attacks key sections of the federal court order, and notes that days after Presnell ordered the civil case to proceed, the judge abruptly issued a corrective order dismissing the claim against a former state Health Department investigator, Mark Haskins, who had played a key role in the Signature investigation.
To read the remainder of this article, click here.
To read more about this case, click here, here, here, and here.
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