Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that a Monmouth County man was sentenced to state prison today for illegally distributing the highly addictive painkiller oxycodone, which he obtained using false prescriptions written by a doctor.
The doctor previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison.
David Roth, 44, of Marlboro Township was sentenced to seven years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Ronald Lee Reisner in Monmouth County.
Roth pleaded guilty on June 12 to second-degree distribution of narcotics. In pleading guilty, Roth admitted that he illegally distributed oxycodone pills obtained using false prescriptions that were written by Dr. Eugene Evans Jr., 57, of Roselle Park, Evans pleaded guilty to second-degree distribution of narcotics and was sentenced on June 26 to five years in state prison.
He surrendered his license to practice medicine.
The investigation revealed that Evans supplied Roth with prescriptions for thousands of 30 milligram tablets of oxycodone. Evans wrote the prescriptions in the names of individuals he never examined, treated or even met. The names and birth dates of the patients were supplied to Evans by Roth, who recruited persons willing to have prescriptions issued in their names.
Evans wrote multiple prescriptions at a time for each of the purported patients. Once Roth had a prescription, he went to a pharmacy with the person named in the prescription to fill it. Roth paid Evans for writing the prescriptions, and he also paid the individuals he recruited as purported patients, either in cash, prescription narcotics, or both. Roth illegally distributed the pills, typically selling each 30 milligram oxycodone tablet for $20 or $30.
The investigation, which included a review of records in the New Jersey Prescription Monitoring Program, determined that between January 2012 and March 2014, Evans allegedly issued fraudulent prescriptions in the names of over a dozen individuals for more than 20,000 high-dose 30 milligram tablets of oxycodone.
A third defendant in the case, Harold Nyhus, 53, of Freehold, is awaiting sentencing. Nyhus pleaded guilty on April 24 to a charge of third-degree obtaining a controlled dangerous substance by fraud. He admitted that he filled fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions that Evans issued in his name and a second name. The state will recommend that he be sentenced to three years in state prison.
Related story: https://www.rlsmedia.com/article/roselle-park-doctor-admits-distributing-highly-addictive-oxycodone-writing-fraudulent