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Orange County resident Anthony Mathis, age 55, of New Windsor, is among eight co-defendants who have pleaded guilty to charges connected to their roles in a large-scale oxycodone trafficking scheme involving fraudulent prescriptions and the illegal distribution of over 1.2 million pills valued at $36 million, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
Mathis, who federal prosecutors say oversaw "crews" of sham patients to obtain unnecessary prescriptions, helped funnel dangerous opioids onto the streets of New York City and beyond. The scheme relied on fraudulent prescriptions written by Dr. Somsri Ratanaprasatporn and her office manager, Leticia Smith, and filled at pharmacies run by Mohamed Hassan and Yousef Ennab, who were convicted in federal court on Wednesday.
The scheme began in a Brooklyn medical office operating as a "pill mill," where the doctor and her staff wrote over 11,000 prescriptions for oxycodone, often for individuals who were never examined or whose identities had been stolen. The prescriptions were filled at pharmacies owned or supervised by Hassan and Ennab, who were caught on video taking cash payments in exchange for the drugs.
In addition to Mathis, seven co-defendants have pleaded guilty and most are awaiting sentencing, including the doctor, office staff, and other pharmacists involved in the operation.
Federal prosecutors emphasized the scale of harm caused by the scheme, with DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank A. Tarentino calling it a "breach of trust that not only undermines public confidence but also causes irreputable harm and erodes the foundation of integrity which the public relies on."
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