Manhattan doctor, 5 others arraigned in prescription pill distribution scheme
NEW YORK -- A Manhattan doctor and several other men stand accused of conspiring to distribute tens of thousands of opioids and other controlled substances.
On Wednesday, one by one, six defendants, including a doctor, pled not guilty to charges connected to a prescription pill distribution scheme. Three more men based in New Jersey face the same charges and are awaiting extradition.
"We have a doctor here, breach of trust, who we allege was providing prescriptions to people who did not need them and they were being resold on the streets of Manhattan," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
Bragg says the year-long wiretap investigation started in November 2021.
As CBS2's Natalie Duddridge reports, court documents show Tribeca family physician Noel Smith wrote prescriptions for opioids like oxycodone, Adderall, Klonopin and suboxone to eight men who then distributed them through illegal street-level sales to buyers on Staten Island.
"This was not a medically required, medically necessary prescription of pills. To the contrary, as we allege, a scheme, a scheme to profit," Bragg said.
The six seen in court Wednesday were released on their own recognizance as these charges aren't bail eligible.
The defendants are due back in court Jan. 4.