Feds: Lodi Member Of All-Female Oxy Ring Sold Thousands Of Pills

LODI, N.J. -- A Lodi resident was one of four women charged by federal authorities with operating an oxycodone ring that sold thousands of pills in New Jersey.

Oxy
Photo Credit: *Flickr user AKZOphoto*

Jerry DeMarco

01/19/2018 9:34 a.m.

Marie DeJulia, 42, of Lodi and the other three -- including a mother and daughter -- were released after federal court appearances on Thursday, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.

The accused ringleader, Alicia Balaban, 35, had her appearance near her home in Wellington, FL, before being released, he said.

Balaban's mother, 63-year-old Michele Call of Flemington, was arrested in New Jersey, along with DeJulia and Nelida Rios, 55, also of Flemington, the U.S. Attorney said.

From April 2016 through January 2018, Balaban, Call, and Rios conspired to secure prescriptions for oxycodone, which they filled at pharmacies in Flemington, Carpenito said.

DeJulia then collected thousands of the pills from Call and Rios's homes in Flemington and sold them, he said.

Carpenito credited special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, with the investigation leading to the charges.

Handling the case for the government is Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Alfonzo Walsman of Carpenito's Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark.

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