New Jersey Pharmacists Charged in Illegal Opioid Distribution Scheme

Two pharmacists are being accused for their roles in a long-running, illegal prescription pain medication distribution conspiracy. Michael Ludwikowski and David Goldfield ran the alleged scheme at Olde Medford Pharmacy and Medford Family Pharmacy in Medford, New Jersey.

The men are accused of dispensing large amounts of prescription painkillers to customers with fake prescriptions and individuals whom they knew to be addicts. According to the US Attorney’s Office for New Jersey, Ludwikowski and Goldfield allegedly filled fraudulent prescriptions for some customers multiple times a week, and also accepted cash payments and gifts of pornography and alcohol. Additionally, 3 men have admitted to filling fake prescriptions at the store, and 2 men have also admitted to attempted extortion of the pharmacists.

The indictment also alleged that some prescriptions were blatantly washed or bleached through a chemical process that removed original writing for a non-narcotic substance. Customers rewrote the prescriptions for multiple prescription opioid pain medications, and brought them to the pharmacy to be filled. Ludwikowski and Goldfield allegedly sold bottles containing between 100 and 120 oxycodone 30-milligram tablets for $190 in cash.

Ludwikowski is being further accused of deceiving a national distributor of painkillers into providing large quantities of oxycodone, morphine, and other prescription drugs from March 2008 through August 2013.

Ludwikowski and Goldfield were both charged with 16 counts of conspiring to distribute oxycodone and other prescription painkillers, as well as maintaining a drug-involved premises and multiple substantive counts of illegal drug distribution. Krystal Wood, a former pharmacy technician at the pharmacy, pleaded guilty in April 2015 to dealing prescription painkillers from the store.