Trenton, New Jersey.Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said Wednesday that Florence Ndubizu, 64, a former pharmacist from Princeton Junction, New Jersey, was convicted of conspiring to illegally distribute substantial amounts of oxycodone from a Trenton drugstore between 2014 and 2017.
Ndubizu, the pharmacist-in-charge and co-owner of Trenton’s Healthcare Pharmacy, was found guilty of conspiring to distribute Schedule II banned narcotics and keeping a facility open for the unlawful distribution of drugs. She supplied millions of oxycodone pills and instructed staff to complete fictitious prescriptions, knowing that they would be diverted for illicit uses, such as drug trafficking on the streets, according to evidence provided by the prosecution.
The jury was told during a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi that between 2014 and 2016, Healthcare Pharmacy bought and sold more than 800,000 oxycodone tablets a year. After learning that Ndubizu and her staff had falsified records to avoid state and federal reporting requirements, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) canceled the pharmacy’s registration in 2017. Between April 2015 and August 2017, approximately 64,000 oxycodone tablets went missing, according to a DEA audit.
Maintaining a drug-involved premises involves a potential 20-year sentence and a $500,000 fine, while conspiracy has a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Before the trial, a third charge of illegally distributing restricted substances was dropped.
The pharmacy has since ceased operations, which were halted in 2017. The date of Ndubizu’s sentence has not yet been set.
