A pair of grand jury indictments were handed down to eight individuals on Tuesday, including a Somerset County doctor, for their alleged involvement in a prescription drug ring and the 2013 overdose death of a Hillsborough man.
According to state Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino’s office, the individuals were allegedly involved in the procurement and distribution of oxycodone, which generally came in high dosage pills.
Officials said the ring can be directly linked to the death of Jason Stoveken, who overdosed on Xanax and oxycodone in July 2013 at age 30.
Among those charged is Dr. George Beecher, 75, of New Providence, who allegedly wrote “tens of thousands” of illegal prescriptions for people that he never personally examined or met, including Jason Stoveken.
As a result, Dr. Beecher was charged with 1st degree strict liability for a drug induced death; 2nd degree conspiracy to distribute a controlled dangerous substance (oxycodone); one count of 2nd degree distribution of oxycodone; and one count of 3rd degree distribution of alprazolam (commonly known by brand name Xanax.
Officials said that Dr. Beecher, an ear, nose and throat specialist based in Warren, was linked to Jason Stoveken’s death for allegedly writing fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone and Xanax. He was found dead in an apartment in Hillsborough, on July 27, 2013 by first responders who determined the cause was accidental and caused by the “acute combined toxicity” of oxycodone and Xanax. There was no evidence of alcohol or other narcotics in his system at the time of his death.
It is alleged that, in the months before Stoveken fatally overdosed, Beecher regularly wrote false prescriptions for him. Two days prior to his death, Beecher wrote a fraudulent prescription for him for 90 oxycodone 30 mg pills. Ten days before he died, Stoveken refilled a prescription written for him by Beecher for 60 Xanax 2 mg pills.
Along with Dr. Beecher, Jason’s father Andrew Stoveken, 66, of Edison; John J. Burnham, 41, of South Plainfield; Jared Burnham, 31, of South Plainfield; George Sara, 37, of Bordentown; Marlena Burnham, 37, of Piscataway; Donn Rush, 34, of Somerset; and Jamar Mayers, 32, of Green Brook, were charged in the second grand jury indictment.
All seven individuals were charged with 2nd degree conspiracy to distribute a controlled dangerous substance (oxycodone) and 2nd degree distribution of oxycodone.
The charges stem from “Operation Busted Script,” an investigation by the Attorney General’s Prescription Fraud Investigation Strike Team in the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs and Organized Crime Bureau that targets corrupt healthcare professionals and “pill mills.”
“We allege that even after a young man died from narcotics that Dr. Beecher falsely prescribed, Beecher and the victim’s own father, defendant Andrew Stoveken, callously continued to profit by supplying tens of thousands of oxycodone pills to drug dealers,” Mr. Porrino said. “With our new strike team, we’re aggressively targeting the pill mills that are fueling opiate addiction and inflicting so much misery and death in our communities.”
According to investigators, John Burnham allegedly coordinated the supply of oxycodone for the ring by ordering batches of prescriptions from Dr. Beecher through Mr. Andrew Stoveken.
John Burnham would allegedly contact Andrew Stoveken and request that he arrange for Dr. Beecher to write prescriptions in the names of various co-conspirators who posed as “patients.” Dr. Beecher would then allegedly write each of the fraudulent prescriptions filled by ring members.
The investigation, which included a review of records in the New Jersey Prescription Monitoring Program, determined that between January 2013 and October 2015, Dr. Beecher allegedly wrote hundreds of prescriptions for 90 oxycodone 30 mg pills in the names of over two dozen people. The prescriptions involved tens of thousands of pills with a street value of over $1 million.
John Burnham allegedly then met Dr. Beecher and Andrew Stoveken at their offices, where he usually paid $500 the men for a prescription for 90 oxycodone 30 mg pills. Once John Burnham collected the prescriptions, he allegedly ferried them, both directly and through intermediaries, to the various co-conspirators in whose names they were written.
Those co-conspirators filled the prescriptions at pharmacies and provided the pills to the ring in exchange for cash, pills or both. Once pills were obtained, John Burnham coordinated their distribution, both directly and through intermediaries, to various large- and small-scale purchasers.
As far as distribution, the Attorney General’s office alleges that John Burnham used Jared Burnham and others to distribute the prescription drugs on the street.
John Burnham allegedly relied on these distributors to purchase prescription drugs from the enterprise and sell the drugs within their own network of customers. They typically sold the 30 mg oxycodone pills for $25 per pill.
In addition to selling pills using the distributors as intermediaries, John Burnham also allegedly dealt directly with certain trusted “bulk purchasers,” who allegedly included Mr. Sara, who also allegedly acted as a supplier for the ring by providing pills from other sources when the ring’s supply was short.
Mr. Rush and Marlena Burnham allegedly facilitated sales of pills into and out of the enterprise. Mr. Rush was also allegedly responsible for recruiting co-conspirators to fill prescriptions.
Mr. Mayers allegedly sold pills for the ring.
In addition to their alleged distribution activities, John Burnham, Jared Burnham, Marlena Burnham, Mr. Rush and Mr. Mayers all allegedly filled prescriptions written by Beecher in their names.
“In addition to targeting licensed professionals like Dr. Beecher, who allegedly broke the law and betrayed his oath as a doctor, our strike team also is charging the drug dealers who put these addictive and often deadly pills on the street,” Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice said. “If the $20 to $30 payoff promised by each of these pills provides an incentive for these criminals, we’re providing a stronger disincentive by administering a potent dose of the law.”Most of the defendants were initially arrested and charged in December 2015. Detectives executed a search warrant on Dec. 16 at Dr. Beecher’s medical office on Mount Boulevard Extension in Warren.
Deputy Attorney General Michael King presented the case to the state grand jury for the Prescription Fraud Investigation Strike Team within the Gangs and Organized Crime Bureau. Mr. King is a member of the Specialized Crimes Bureau assigned to the Strike Team.
Detectives Kevin Gannon and Michael Rasar conducted the investigation for the Division of Criminal Justice, along with Deputy Attorney General King, under the supervision of Lt. Lisa Cawley, Deputy Chief of Detectives Christopher Donohue, Deputy Bureau Chief Annmarie Taggart and Bureau Chief Lauren Scarpa Yfantis of the Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.
Attorney General Porrino also thanked the New Jersey State Police Intelligence Section for their assistance in the investigation.
The indictments were handed up to Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobson in Mercer County, who assigned them to Middlesex County, where the defendants will be ordered to appear in court at a later date for arraignment.
The first-degree charge of strict liability for a drug-induced death carries a sentence of 10 to 20 years in state prison, including a period of parole ineligibility equal to 85 percent of the sentence imposed. Second-degree charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000, while third-degree charges carry a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000.
