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Phony patients for whom Lisa Ferraro, 65, wrote scripts included two people who were locked up, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
They were among several “patients” who Sellinger said were “never physically examined or questioned about symptoms to determine whether there was a legitimate medical need for oxycodone.”
Ferraro typically wrote prescriptions for 90 pills of 30mg of oxycodone per "patient," the U.S. attorney said.
They were “typically split three ways among Ferraro, a conspirator who recruited the fake patients, and the fake patients themselves,” he said.
Over the 3 ½ -year course of the operation, Ferraro wrote 425 prescriptions for 36,500 pills, Sellinger said.
Oxy can sell on the street for as much as $20 a pill, according to addictioncenter.com.
At that measurement, the amount that federal authorities say Ferraro prescribed would fetch $730,000.
The Ferraro Medical Clinic on Broadway in Paterson was founded by the internist’s father, Stephen P. Ferraro, more than 70 years ago. She’s run the office since 1987.
State authorities previously charged Ferraro along with her office manager and a former assistant with healthcare insurance fraud, but those charges were dropped in April 2019.
Federal authorities have charged her with “knowingly and intentionally conspiring and agreeing with others to distribute oxycodone…outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose,” Sellinger said.
Ferraro was released on a $150,000 unsecured bond following a brief appearance before a federal magistrate judge in Newark on Tuesday.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI and DEA with the investigation leading to the charges.
Handling the case for the government are Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ray A. Mateo and Aaron L. Webman of the Sellinger’s Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit in Newark.
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