"Neighbors stung by pharmacist’s arrest; Codman Square leader faces fraud charges" By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | April 11, 2010
Nearly 20 years later, the Codman Square Pharmacy is shuttered, and Amad “Joe’’ Onujiogu, 61, is at his home in Randolph, under house arrest, wearing an ankle bracelet that monitors his every move.
He is awaiting trial on charges that he solicited the help of up to 40 people to obtain thousands of pills and paper prescriptions so he could fraudulently bill Medicaid. Onujiogu has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in federal court in Boston next month....
The crime Onujiogu is accused of committing remains rare, prosecutors said, though State Police said they are confronting a growing illegal trade in which doctors, nurses, and patients pass phony prescriptions to obtain expensive pills to feed a habit or sell on the streets.
Also see: Around New England: Cleaning Up in Connecticut
Strange how that investigation goes nowhere (and is not followed up on).
Last month, Aloysius Chukwukere Nsonwu, a 63-year-old pharmacist in Egleston Square, was charged with fraudulently billing the state’s public health system for more than $300,000 worth of phony prescriptions....
We are being bilked for billions by banks and war-looters and this is what government is investigating?
Not saying it is wrong or they shouldn't, but....
For years, Onujiogu was the classic neighborhood pharmacist, waiving copayments and fees on prescriptions for poor customers. Longtime clients knew that if they did not have enough money on them, he would give them pills and tell them to pay him another day.
Plenty for banks, wars.... ah, what's the use?
“I found him to be very approachable, and understanding what was right for the community and trying his best to still be a merchant and do what was right,’’ said Cynthia Loesch, president of the Codman Square Neighborhood Council.
“Before Codman Square had this big change, he was one of the few guys who saw the potential,’’ said Mike Dockery, a friend whose electronics repair shop sits next door to the closed pharmacy. “He cared when nobody else cared.’’
That is why government had to take him out.
During his first decade in the square, business was good. In the 1990s, pharmacies in the city’s poorer neighborhoods were extremely rare, so he had little competition. Onijiogu and his wife, a nurse, became active in the community. Onijiogu joined the merchants’ association and became president of the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp.
His wife taught a nursing program in Dorchester and was often at community centers, tending to elderly neighbors.
About eight years ago, Walgreen’s opened up less than a quarter mile from the Codman Square pharmacy.
“That’s when our problems started,’’ Onijiogu said. “It was tough competing with them.’’
So what did they do?
In the fall of 2008, authorities said they began tailing one of Onujiogu’s customers as she filled prescriptions to combat HIV and bipolar disorder, conditions she had not been diagnosed with, at big chain pharmacies. They watched her as she went to Onujiogu’s pharmacy, holding the bag of pills. She would come out with her hands empty.
When federal investigators interviewed her, she said she was selling paper prescriptions and pills to Onujiogu. She had been doing this two to three times a week and knew of about two dozen other people doing the same, according to a federal affidavit. An audit of the pharmacy’s Medicaid claims showed there were 30 to 40 people fitting the same profile as the female customer, the affidavit stated.
The FBI alleged that Onujiogu was taking phony prescriptions he had bought and charging Medicaid for filling them, pocketing the bulk of the costs and giving the runners a cut.
Like a DRUG DEALER?
Shelbey Wright, the federal prosecutor in charge of the case, said investigators are still trying to calculate how much was fraudulently billed....
Onujiogu declined to comment on the allegations, referring questions about his case to his lawyer, Steven Brooks, who also declined to comment. The state suspended Onujiogu’s pharmacy license and he had to resign as chairman of the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp. He cannot leave his house except for medical appointments and lawyer visits.
“For me, the worst thing about all this, is my integrity is gone,’’ said Onujiogu, who came to the United States in 1973 to study pharmacy.
And once you lose that....
“All my life revolved around Codman Square,’’ he said. “I miss my customers. I miss my role in the community.’’
I miss good journalism.
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