GRAMERCY — The ex-director of pharmacy services for Beth Israel Hospital stole nearly 200,000 of pain pills worth more than $5 million over a five-year span, prosecutors charged Tuesday.
Anthony D’Alessandro, 47, who worked at the hospital for almost 14 years and oversaw all of the stocked medication, was nabbed at his Staten Island home Tuesday morning and charged with the theft of almost 200,000 oxycodone pills on at least 218 separate dates from January 2009 to April 2014, prosecutors announced.
The discovery was made after the Mount Sinai Health System received an anonymous letter with documentation about D’Alessandro and launched an investigation and internal audit. The case was then referred to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.
The former pharmacist admitted to taking the pills, but said they were for personal use.
"Beginning sometime in 2010 I started to take oxycodone for my personal use," he wrote in a signed confession. "In total I have taken 1000's of tablets. I have been taking this for my ankle/foot pain and was treating myself."
The investigation revealed that D’Alessandro also made false entries into the electronic narcotics inventory system, indicating the pills were being sent to the research pharmacy at the hospital.
D’Alessandro initially swiped anywhere from 100 to 500 pills, but by January of this year, he was removing up to 1,500 pills in a single day, prosecutors said.
He also allegedly filled at least seven fraudulent prescriptions written in his wife’s name.
D’Alessandro was suspended and later fired from Mount Sinai Beth Israel in April. He was also axed from his job as a per diem pharmacist at Staten Island University Hospital.
He is charged with operating as a major drug trafficker under New York State's Drug Kingpin law and also faces 247 counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance and one count of grand larceny.
Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan praised the hospital staff for making the discovery.
“The indictment charges that one rogue pharmacist was responsible for the diversion of nearly 200,000 addictive pills,” Brennan said in a press release. “This case underscores the vigilance required when addictive medication with a high resale value is readily available — even to licensed professionals and employees.”
D'Alessandro's lawyer, Joseph Sorrentino, declined to comment.
