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Wagner “Wanny” Checonolasco, 33, had an accomplice who worked in the pharmacy of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in East Orange, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenitoi said.
The conspirator “placed large orders for HIV medication, purportedly on behalf of the VAMC,” then stole it once it was delivered, Carpenito said.
Checonolasco went to the as-yet-unidentified conspirator’s home to buy the medication before selling it, the U.S. attorney said.
A U.S. magistrate judge in Newark released Checonolasco on an unsecured $250,000 appearance bond.
He’s charged with conspiring to steal government property.
Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Northeast Field Office with the ongoing investigation leading to the charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole F. Mastropieri of Carpenito’s Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark is handling the case for the government.
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