Danielson Pharmacist Pleads Guilty to Illegally Dispensing Prescription Drugs

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Daniel Fiore, 59, of Brooklyn, Connecticut, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven one count of unlawfully dispensing controlled substances.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Fiore owned and operated Daniel’s Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy located at 42 Reynolds Street in Danielson. Between February 2009 through December 2010, Fiore unlawfully dispensed a Schedule III controlled substance containing a mixture of hydrocodone and acetaminophen (generic Vicodin) and Schedule IV controlled substances, including diazepam (Valium), alprazolam (Xanax), or triazolam (Halcion), to friends and family members without any valid prescriptions for such medications. In order to conceal his conduct, Fiore created fraudulent prescriptions in his own handwriting as if the prescriptions had been called in by a physician’s office and then documented filling the prescriptions in the same manner that he documented legitimate prescriptions.

In total, Fiore unlawfully dispensed 1,542 tablets of Schedule III and 210 tablets of Schedule IV controlled substances.

Judge Burns has scheduled sentencing for July 11, 2012, at which time Fiore faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of up to $500,000.

This investigation was conducted by special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, diversion investigators from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Drug Control Division of the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, and the Connecticut State Police Troop D Quality of Life Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David J. Sheldon.

U.S. Attorney Fein encouraged individuals who suspect health care fraud to report it by calling the Health Care Fraud Task Force at (203) 785-9270 or 1-800-HHS-TIPS.