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Authorities “would not have had a case” against Dr. Carnig Shakarjian and others in the ring without the help of bodybuilder Robert “Buddy” Waananen, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Pia Shepard said in court this morning.
Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi, in turn, sentenced Waananen to the probationary term agreed upon in his plea deal with prosecutors and then suspended it.
However, both she and Shepard agreed that Waananen would immediately be brought back to court for resentencing if he gets in any more trouble.
- CLIFFVIEW PILOT BROKE THE STORY (Dec. 21, 2011): Undercover detectives have charged an Emerson podiatrist with writing high-dose Oxycodone prescriptions by the dozen for people in and around town in exchange for a fee from a local bodybuilder and another man who acted as black-market brokers. READ MORE….
Shakarjian, of Park Ridge, was sentenced three weeks ago to five years in state prison, had his license suspended for at least five years and was fined $10,000 for conspiring to sell the high-dose drug to black-market brokers (SEE: Emerson podiatrist gets 5 years for running Oxy prescription mill).
Like him, several of a dozen co-defendants named in the original 16-count grand jury indictment have negotiated deals of their own — including Waananen. A couple have entered pre-trial intervention programs.
Sean Colina, the son of Emerson Mayor Carlos Colina, admitted in court in March that he provided Shakarjian a list of black market customers.
Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said Shakarjian “was prescribing a large volume of Oxycodone” from his Ankle and Foot Health Care Institute on Kinderkamack Road.
The highly powerful opiate, similar in many ways to heroin and morphine, is used to relieve severe pain.
After obtaining subpoenas that they served to local and corporate pharmacies, detectives found that Shakarjian, 50, had prescribed the drug, in 60-pill dosages of 30 mg, to more than 100 people, many of them in their 20s and 30s, the prosecutor said. The scripts were filled at various area pharmacies, he said.
Detectives arranged to get two prescriptions each for the same amount and dosage from Shakarjian, which “were provided in exchange for money and served no legitimate medical purpose,” Molinelli said.
The investigators were jointed by agents from the DEA and the state Division of Consumer Affairs in a warranted search of the doctor’s office, the prosecutor said.
The DCA detectives “examined medical records, provided expertise on state medical rules and regulations, and participated” in questioning Shakarjian, he said.
A comparison list of those people filling Shakarjian’s prescriptions for Oxycodone with one seized during the search turned up the names of 50 people who weren’t his patients, Molinelli said.
This eventually led to Waananen, a friend and patient who, the prosecutor said, began conspiring with the doctor to sell prescriptions for various drugs.
Waananen collected lists of names and birth dates of buyers that he gave to Shararjian, while receiving a set price per prescription, Molinelli said.
ABOVE: Robert Waananen in court this morning (Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter, who contributed to this story)
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