By Jeff Lipton
Minkoff, 54, pleaded guilty to 10 counts, including larceny and drug felonies, on Thursday, Oct. 16, and was promised a year in jail when he is sentenced on Dec. 19. He was also ordered to pay $152,000 in restitution.
During what was dubbed by investigators as “Operation Dirty Feet,” hidden cameras were set up in the Woodmere Medical Associates office, at 15 Irving Place, on March 9, capturing Minkoff entering the prescription closet without authorization and stealing large quantities of pills, according to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.
She said that between February and April 29, 2008, alone, Minkoff swiped roughly 9,000 pills designed to treat ailments such as high cholesterol, diabetes, heartburn, arthritis, high blood pressure and erectile dysfunction.
Minkoff, a licensed podiatrist, was convicted of stealing samples of medications once or twice a week while he was employed as a technician at the medical office, Rice said. Prosecutors said the medical office was unaware of the thefts and has been fully cooperating with DA investigators.
Minkoff sold the pills to a pharmacist at a South Shore pharmacy, who then put them into pill bottles and sold them to customers “with no regard for sanitary conditions or the pills' often-elapsed expiration dates,” prosecutors said.
“Mr. Minkoff's actions placed unsanitary and potentially expired medication into the hands of sick and suffering people,” Rice said in a statement. “This is an egregious betrayal of the public trust. What's sickening is that Mr. Minkoff and this pharmacist are sworn to help patients and they are in positions that treat people in moments of extreme vulnerability.”
The DA's office did not reveal the identity of the pharmacist because he is cooperating in additional criminal investigations.
Minkoff's crimes came to light during a separate 2006 investigation into the South Shore pharmacy and its pharmacist for selling controlled substances without prescriptions and for forging prescriptions, the DA said, adding that the pharmacist was also purchasing sample pills to refill prescription bottles. The sample pills were left in a box on the floor of the pharmacy, and workers would sift through the box looking for additional pills when supplies ran low.
The unnamed pharmacist pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and second-degree forgery.
Investigators traced the sample packs found at the pharmacy to the Woodmere medical office where Minkoff worked. Minkoff is alleged to have pocketed $275,000 from his criminal actions.
Minkoff's attorney, Melvyn Roth, has denied the DA's contention that anyone was harmed by the crimes. “The drug companies supplied these samples for free to doctors,” Roth said. “We have no evidence that anyone was hurt by this action.”
Rice has waged a campaign against doctors and pharmacists who have used their profession to steal and illegally distribute medication and painkillers.
“The district attorney is aggressively prosecuting fraud of any kind, especially in the medical field where it can adversely affect an entire community,” said Chris Munzing, a spokesman for Rice.
Minkoff pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny, third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, second-degree criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions, three counts of third-degree criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions, and four counts of fourth-degree criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions.
Minkoff's bail was reduced from $100,000 to $50,000, which he posted and plans to go toward civil forfeiture in the case, Munzing said.
The DA was pressing for a 2-to-6-year prison term for Minkoff, who was promised a year by the judge in return for his guilty pleas.
Minkoff has a prior record, said officials, who added that in 1988 he was charged with Medicaid fraud, billing Medicaid for services he did not perform, and in 2000 he was brought up on federal charges during a health care fraud investigation. Munzing said Minkoff will be sentenced on those charges in December as well, but could not say how much additional time he would face on those charges.
“Dr. Minkoff thought that it was in his best interest to resolve this, to move on with his life and put this behind him,” said Roth of Minkoff’s guilty pleas. “He has accepted responsibility for what he did.”
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