March 21, 2024
Jack Gruber/USAT
Verree Pharmacy was once the largest retail buyer of oxycodone in Pennsylvania. Federal investigators have now concluded their investigation into the Philly business with two more guilty pleas.
Federal investigators announced Wednesday that they had concluded their years-long investigation into Verree Pharmacy, the Fox Chase business that was once the largest buyer of oxycodone among retail pharmacies in Pennsylvania.
The case ended with the sentencing of two more former employees, who both pled guilty to knowingly dispensing oxycodone without a legitimate prescription. Todd Goodman was sentenced to four months in prison and Eric Pestrack to three. The men, who are now barred from dispensing controlled substances, also agreed to settle separate civil lawsuits.
Mitchell Spivack, who owned Verree Pharmacy for three decades, was previously sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. Prosecutors also ordered Spivack and his business to pay over $4.1 million to settle their liabilities under the Controlled Substances Act and False Claims Act. Like his former employees, Spivack can never dispense controlled substances in the future.
Federal investigators said Spivack and his employees dispensed opioids even in the face of "numerous red flags" suggesting abuse and misuse, such as excessive doses, large cash payments and clearly forged prescriptions. He also allegedly lied to his distributors to avoid suspicion and maintain the pharmacy's "deviant purchasing, dispensing and billing of controlled substances." According to prosecutors, Verree and its employees repeatedly billed insurers, including Medicare, for prescriptions it did not fill, even employing a special internal code to "bill but don't fill" (BBDF).
Per the terms of his sentence, Spivack and his pharmacy are banned from working with Medicare or Medicaid for 22 years.
Verree Pharmacy was located at 7960 Verree Rd. in Northeast Philadelphia prior to its legal troubles. NuCare Pharmacy now occupies that space.
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