No Victim Statements During Sentencing of Dedham Couple in NECC Case

DEDHAM, MA — Victim-impact statements from those affected by a meningitis outbreak that killed over 60 people and made 700 more stick will not be heard during the sentencing of a Dedham couple.

In July, Carla Conigliaro, 53, the majority owner of the New England Compounding Center and her husband, Douglas Conigliaro, 55, both of Dedham, Mass., pleaded guilty to withdrawing cash from their bank accounts in a manner intended to avoid financial reporting requirements, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 1, 2016.

In his decision, U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns said the statements could be used as a measure by federal prosecutors "to persuade the court to reject the government’s recommendation and impose a harsher sentence," according to the Boston Herald. He added that the couple wasn't directly involved in the compounding of the steroids.

In September 2012, NECC was investigated for a multi-state meningitis outbreak in patients who received contaminated preservative-free MPA steroid injections from the Framingham-based company. On Oct. 31, 2012, the day a search warrant was executed at NECC, the two began withdrawing unusual sums of cash from their personal bank accounts. The cash transactions were structured by the Conigliaros in a manner so as to evade the $10,000 reporting requirement for the filing of a currency transaction report. The Conigliaros admitted to withdrawing $124,000 in cash in this manner, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

NECC owner Barry J. Cadden, 49, of Wrentham and Glenn A. Chin, 48, of Canton, the company’s 
supervising pharmacist, will face 25 counts of second-degree murder when their trial starts on Jan. 5.

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