Guilford Man To Spend Next 8 Years In Prison

GUILFORD, CT — A Guilford man will spend the next eight years behind bars after being sentenced for his role in a scheme to distribute oxycodone that was obtained through fraudulent prescriptions. Brian Page, 43, of Guilford, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to 97 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release.

The investigation revealed that, between 2013 and 2015, the organization, which Page was apart of, stole the personal identifying information of more than 50 doctors and medical professionals and fraudulently obtained more than 80,000 oxycodone pills, federal officials said in a news release. Investigators identified more than 800 fraudulent prescriptions passed by members of the organization using more than 270 different “patient” names, officials said. Twelve individuals were charged and convicted as a result of the investigation.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2012, members of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Haven Tactical Diversion Squad began an investigation into a drug trafficking organization that manufactured fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone and distributed the drug in the greater New Haven area, federal authorities said in a news release.

The investigation revealed that David Thompson, also known as “Super Dave,” headed the organization that obtained the personal identifying information of medical practitioners and used the information to create fraudulent prescriptions, officials said.

Organization members also purchased legitimate prescriptions for oxycodone from individuals. The organization then used individuals, or “runners,” to fill the fraudulent prescriptions at pharmacies throughout Connecticut. Once a runner provided his or her personal information to a member of the organization, the runner’s information was kept on file and used to create other fraudulent prescriptions, federal officials said.

Thompson recruited Page into the conspiracy, and Page soon played a critical role in the scheme by using a software program on his computer to print prescriptions that appeared to be real, officials said in a news release. Once he began manufacturing prescriptions himself, Page recruited his own network of runners to fill them.

Nearly all of the runners employed by the conspiracy held state-sponsored medical insurance, so the costs of the prescriptions were billed to Medicaid. Members of the drug trafficking organization then sold the oxycodone for $20 to $30 per 30 milligram pill.

On April 14, 2015, Page pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute oxycodone. Thompson pleaded guilty to the same charge and, on July 11, 2017, was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment.

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