Oxy-Pushing Doctor Gets 6 Years in Prison

Middletown, NJ - A Middletown doctor who illegally sold Oxycodone painkillers was sentenced to six years in New Jersey state prison Friday after pleading guilty.

Dr. Ken Lewandowski, 53, of Tatum Drive in Middletown, admitted he wrote fake prescriptions for oxy, which his office manager then allegedly sold for $300-$400 a piece, according to acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni.

Lewandowski and his office manager, Thomas Menendez, obtained prescription pads in the name of a licensed doctor without his consent, as Lewandowski's medical license was suspended at the time.

Lewandowski admitted that he personally forged prescriptions in the other doctor’s name to four of his former patients who ultimately obtained 120 oxycodone pills each.

Lewandowski’s old patient files, from his now defunct pain management practice in Red Bank, were utilized to find subjects eager to purchase the powerful painkillers.

Lewandowski also conspired with Ronald Scott, a 65-year-old physician’s assistant from Toms River, who wrote prescriptions for Lewandowski’s former patients without the approval of a licensed physician, prosecutors said.

His sentencing Friday came as part of a plea agreement entered before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Joseph Oxley. Judge Oxley also ordered Lewandowski’s license to practice medicine be revoked.

Menendez, of Geary Drive in Middletown, pleaded guilty Tuesday

“There is an epidemic of prescription opiates and heroin abuse that is killing people across the country and it is a priority for law enforcement across Monmouth County,” Gramiccioni said.

Lewandowski and Menendez were arrested as part of a joint investigation into a suspected prescription drug ring involving the two men and others.

The Middletown Police began its investigation after receiving information from a local pharmacy that a subject presented a fraudulent prescription attempting to obtain Oxycodone on November 24, 2014.