Pharmacist in Deadly Meningitis Outbreak Pleads Not Guilty

A pharmacist, who was employed by Framingham-based New England Compounding Center, plead not guilty to a mail fraud charge Thursday at his arraignment in federal court in Boston, reported WBZ-TV.

Glenn Adam Chin, 46, of Canton, is being used as a “scapegoat” said his attorney, to the Boston Globe.

Chin was arrested at the airport, earlier this month.

Chin was employed as a supervising pharmacist at New England Compounding Center, before the company was linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak. He oversaw the rooms where the tainted steroids blamed for the 2012 outbreak were made. More than 750 people in 20 states were infected and 64 individual died.

Chin is the first person to be charged criminally in the case.

“I think he and others will be scapegoated,” said Stephen Weymouth, an attorney appointed Thursday to represent Chin. “Someone has to be made to pay. I’m just not sure Mr. Chin is that person.”

Prosecutors allege that Chin did not properly sterilize or test equipment and concealed unsafe practices.

Chin is free pending trial, but is under home confinement, reported AP.

The compounding center gave up its license and filed for bankruptcy protection, after the deadly outbreak.

In May, a $100 million settlement for the victims of the deadly fungal meningitis outbreak was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boston.