{"id":42262,"date":"2021-03-09T15:32:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T23:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262"},"modified":"2021-03-09T15:32:13","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T23:32:13","slug":"former-cop-admits-involvement-in-multi-million-dollar-prescription-drug-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262","title":{"rendered":"Former Cop Admits Involvement in Multi-Million-Dollar Prescription Drug Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

NEWARK, N.J.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A former police officer with the North Brunswick Police Department admitted this week his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme, according to prosecutors.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"brown<\/a>The scam<\/span> defrauded state health benefits programs through the submission of medically unnecessary prescriptions for compounded medications,\u00a0 <\/span>Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.<\/span><\/p>\n

Daniel Passafiume, 45, of Monroe, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp to an information charging him with conspiring to commit health care fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of his plea agreement, Passafiume must forfeit $284,659 in criminal proceeds and pay restitution of $3.27 million. Sentencing is scheduled for July 12, 2021. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"FBI<\/a>
FBI Photo Image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Between January 2014 and November 2016, Passafiume and a conspirator, identified as CC-1 in the information, marketed certain prescription \u201ccompounded medications,\u201d including vitamins and pain creams, to beneficiaries of New Jersey state insurance plans, including the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP). <\/span><\/p>\n

These insurance plans paid thousands of dollars for compounded medications, which are specialty medications mixed by a pharmacist to meet the specific medical needs of an individual patient. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although compounded drugs are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), officials stated they are properly prescribed when a physician determines that an FDA-approved medication does not meet the health needs of a particular patient because, for example, the patient is allergic to a dye or other ingredient or requires the medication in a different form.<\/span><\/p>\n

Passafiume and his conspirator had agreements with pharmacies to collect large commission payments for each prescription they obtained for the pharmacy, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Passafiume and CC-1 found individuals with these insurance plans and connected them with doctors who were willing to sign prescriptions without an examination or a determination that the individuals needed the compounded medications. <\/span><\/p>\n

Those recruited to obtain prescriptions included employees of a New Jersey police department, family members of these employees, and Passafiume\u2019s own family members. <\/span><\/p>\n

At times, Passafiume provided beneficiaries with cash, checks, and gift cards for agreeing to obtain these prescriptions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greater. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEWARK, N.J.\u00a0 A former police officer with the North Brunswick Police Department admitted this week his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme, according to prosecutors. The scam defrauded state health benefits programs through…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Cop Admits Involvement in Multi-Million-Dollar Prescription Drug Scheme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NEWARK, N.J.\u00a0 A former police officer with the North Brunswick Police Department admitted this week his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme, according to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Cop Admits Involvement in Multi-Million-Dollar Prescription Drug Scheme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NEWARK, N.J.\u00a0 A former police officer with the North Brunswick Police Department admitted this week his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme, according to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-09T23:32:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/download-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"225\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"225\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=42262#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=42262\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Former Cop Admits Involvement in Multi-Million-Dollar Prescription Drug Scheme\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-09T23:32:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=42262\"},\"wordCount\":383,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=42262#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/download-2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"American Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=42262#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=42262\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=42262\",\"name\":\"Former Cop Admits Involvement in Multi-Million-Dollar Prescription Drug Scheme\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=42262#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=42262#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/download-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-09T23:32:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"NEWARK, N.J.\u00a0 A former police officer with the North Brunswick Police Department admitted this week his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme, according to\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=42262\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=42262#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/download-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/download-2.jpg\",\"width\":225,\"height\":225},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former Cop Admits Involvement in Multi-Million-Dollar Prescription Drug Scheme","description":"NEWARK, N.J.\u00a0 A former police officer with the North Brunswick Police Department admitted this week his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme, according to","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former Cop Admits Involvement in Multi-Million-Dollar Prescription Drug Scheme","og_description":"NEWARK, N.J.\u00a0 A former police officer with the North Brunswick Police Department admitted this week his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme, according to","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2021-03-09T23:32:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":225,"height":225,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/download-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Former Cop Admits Involvement in Multi-Million-Dollar Prescription Drug Scheme","datePublished":"2021-03-09T23:32:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262"},"wordCount":383,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/download-2.jpg","articleSection":["American Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262","name":"Former Cop Admits Involvement in Multi-Million-Dollar Prescription Drug Scheme","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/download-2.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-09T23:32:13+00:00","description":"NEWARK, N.J.\u00a0 A former police officer with the North Brunswick Police Department admitted this week his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme, according to","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=42262#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/download-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/download-2.jpg","width":225,"height":225},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42262"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42264,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42262\/revisions\/42264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}