NJ pharmacist pleas guilty to filling over 1K fake prescriptions for cash

© Provided by WINS Radio New York Parkway Central Pharmacy which Anthony Duncan owned and worked at

NEWARK, N.J. (1010 WINS) — A New Jersey pharmacist pleaded guilty Tuesday to a years-long scheme of filling bogus prescriptions in exchange for cash, officials said.

The Hillside man, 61-year-old Anthony Duncan, worked as a pharmacist and owned Parkway Central Pharmacy in East Orange. It was there where Duncan’s co-conspirators came to him with counterfeit prescriptions for drugs including oxycodone and codeine, authorities said.

Duncan would fill the prescriptions knowing they were fake and would get a percentage in profit for every prescription filled, according to court documents.

In general, Duncan was paid $4 for every oxycodone 30mg pill; $2 for every oxycodone and acetaminophen combination product; and $10 for every eight ounces of cough syrup containing codeine, officials said.

The scheme went on for four years, between Nov. 2014 and Nov. 2018, during which Duncan filled more than 1,100 false or counterfeit prescriptions for the drugs. He illegally sold to one conspirator at least 47,000 tablets of Oxycodone 30 mg; 46,000 tablets of oxycodone and acetaminophen combination product; and 56,000 milliliters of cough syrup containing codeine, authorities said.

Duncan faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million, or twice the gross profit to the defendant, whichever is greater, when he is sentenced on Nov. 8.