Rockville Centre police nab village doctor in major drug bust

Rockville Centre police believe they have disrupted a major drug-dealing operation in the village with the arrest of a doctor who allegedly sold prescriptions for addictive, opiate-based painkillers like OxyContin, oxycodone and Roxicodone without performing medical exams.

Dr. Martin Roginsky, 82, an endocrinologist, was arrested on Dec. 15 at 6:20 p.m. when village police officers executed a search warrant in his office in the Ryan Medical Building, at 2000 N. Village Ave. Roginsky, who lives in Cold Spring Harbor, was charged with 10 counts of criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance.

Police seized numerous files, bank and brokerage records as well as money from the office. Two men — Ronald B. Lytle, 56, of Hollis, Queens and Jean E. Muzac, 47, of Manhattan — were also arrested at the scene and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance. Both were waiting for prescriptions in the doctor’s office, according to police.

It is believed that Roginsky sold illegal narcotics with a street value of $10 million to $15 million dollars to communities on Long Island, throughout the metropolitan area and as far away as Pennsylvania. Prosecutors also estimate that he pocketed more than $260,000 by selling the phony prescriptions.

“We can see by the street value how lucrative the drug trade is,” said Police Commissioner Charles Gennario. “I commend the members of my department for their hard work and perseverance in their efforts to stop the dangerous flow of OxyContin, a precursor to the use of heroin, into our community.”

“So-called doctors like this defendant are the reason why so many of our young people are getting hooked on opiate-based painkillers, and eventually heroin,” said Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice. “By flooding our streets with addictive painkillers, they are no better than a common drug dealer on the corner.”

Rockville Centre police conducted the investigation over a six-month period and were assisted by the Long Island DEA Task Force, the Nassau and Suffolk County police departments, the New York State Police, the Nassau County district attorney’s office and the New York State Bureau of Narcotics in the execution of the search warrant. The investigation is continuing.

The defendants were arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead on Dec. 16. Assistant District Attorney Irene Angelakis of the Street Narcotics and Gang Bureau is prosecuting the case for the D.A.’s office. Roginsky is represented by an attorney from the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County. If convicted, he faces up to five and a half years in prison. His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 6.

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