The majority owner of a pharmacy, accused of killing 64 people and sickening 751 people in 20 states with tainted prescriptions, and her husband, were ordered this week to forfeit profits, pay fines and serve probation.
Carla Conigliaro, 53, of Dedham, the majority owner of New England Compounding Center, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to one year of probation, forfeit $4,600 and pay a fine of $4,500. Her husband, Douglas Conigliaro, 55, also of Dedham, was sentenced to two years of probation, ordered to forfeit $119,647 and pay a fine of $55,000. This past summer, they each pleaded guilty to withdrawing cash from their bank accounts in a manner intended to defeat financial reporting requirements.
Former Haverhill Man Still Faces Related Trial
Joseph M. Evanosky, formerly of Haverhill, was a licensed pharmacist with the center from April, 2011, to October, 2012. He was among those charged with second degree murder, racketeering, conspiracy, mail fraud, introduction of adulterated drugs into interstate commerce, contempt, structuring and aiding and abetting.
In December, 2014, following a two-year investigation, the Conigliaros and 12 other employees and associates of the pharmacy were indicted. The indictment did not charge the Conigliaros with having an active role in operations or management, but did charge them with transferring assets following a 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
Beginning Oct. 31, 2012, the day a search warrant was executed at the pharmacy, the Conigliaros began withdrawing unusual sums of cash from their personal bank accounts, according to U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz in Boston. The cash transactions were structured by the Conigliaros in a manner so as to evade the $10,000 reporting requirement for the filing of a currency transaction report. The Conigliaros admitted to withdrawing $124,000 in cash in this manner.
Evanosky and others charged are scheduled to stand trial next spring. They are accused of using expired ingredients, falsifying expiration dates, failing to properly sterilize drugs, mixing stock solutions of different drug lots to fill customer orders, failing to recall drugs where microbial growth was detected, failing to properly clean and disinfect clean rooms, among other charges.