Vicodin-Dealing Pharmacist Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail

Oceanside pharmacist filled prescriptions written in crayon

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced that a Bellmore pharmacist who ran a drug ring that generated more than $7.5 million in illegal revenue was sentenced in Nassau County Court to 30 days in jail for filling bogus prescriptions for powerful painkillers at his Oceanside pharmacy.

Sheldon Topchik, 75, owned Terrace Pharmacy in Oceanside with his wife, and used the pharmacy to distribute the powerful painkiller Vicodin to customers who presented prescriptions which were often forged, photocopied, written in another person’s name, or, in one instance, written in crayon. Topchik rarely, if ever, asked for identification and required that all sales be cash transactions.

Topchik was also sentenced to five years probation by Nassau County Court Judge Edward Maron. Topchik pleaded guilty to Criminal Diversion in the First Degree, Criminal Diversion of Prescription Medication in the First Degree and Criminal Diversion of Prescription Medication in the Second Degree.

Rice said that Terrace Pharmacy sold nearly twice the amount of Vicodin as the average pharmacy in the U.S. in 2005, and almost three times the average pharmacy in New York. The pharmacy was sold to CVS in April 2006. In 2005 alone, Terrace Pharmacy sold more than 149,300 doses of the painkiller.

The pharmacy’s unusually high sales of Vicodin were uncovered by detectives after police investigated a series of break-ins and robberies that occurred at the pharmacy between October and December of 2005. Topchik was arrested in March of last year after a joint investigation by the District Attorney’s Office, the Long Island Drug Enforcement Agency and the Narcotics & Vice Bureau of the Nassau County Police Department.  Also arrested in connection with the probe were more than 25 prescription drug abusers who were purchasing their drugs from Topchik’s pharmacy.  Rice said that most were given treatment-oriented dispositions.

“The drug-dealing pharmacist is the same as the drug dealer on the corner: feeding addictions, poisoning children, and destroying lives,” Rice said. “Prescription drug abuse is on the rise and we will continue to aggressively pursue and punish those who abuse the medical profession for their own benefit.”

Vicodin is a brand name of hydrocodone, a powerful and potentially addictive painkiller that can have a street value of $2 to $4.

Assistant District Attorney Jennine Mazzola of the DA’s Street Narcotics and Gang Bureau is handling the case for the District Attorney’s Office. Topchik is being represented by Richard W. Lerner, Esq.