MINEOLA, Long Island (PIX11) -- Prosecutors on Long Island said that a man in Florida created a nationwide pharmacy scam that hacked into doctors' phones to get thousands of fake prescriptions filled.
According to prosecutors, the man, Devin Magarian, 21, would then resell the ill-gotten prescription drugs for hundreds of dollars per pill. It netted Magarian tens of millions of dollars, according to the criminal complaint against him.
Magarian pled not guilty before a judge on Friday on Long Island, where investigators said they were able to stop the criminal network that spanned at least eight states.
Anne Donnelly, the Nassau County district attorney, said investigators in her office, the Nassau County Police Department, and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, were able to stop Magarian's illicit, wide-ranging scheme.
"It could be millions of pills that went out," she said at a news conference at her office Friday morning.
Donnelly said that Magarian figured out how to impersonate hundreds of doctors online. He allegedly hacked into the digital version of doctors' prescription pads, wrote thousands of prescriptions in their names, and in, Ga., Mass., N.H., N.Y., N.C., S.C., and Texas; he got pharmacies to fill what they thought were prescriptions from legitimate patients.
The patients' names and addresses were fictitious, according to investigators. Magarian also had a network of hundreds of accomplices, called runners, who would pick up the bottles of promethazine, codeine, and oxycodone.
The volume of the operation was massive, prosecutors said.
In one weekend, Magarian was able to generate 18,500 prescriptions, DA Donnelly said.
Donnelly stated the operation, worth tens of millions of dollars, was all carried out from Magarian's home in Kissimmee, Fla. The break in the case came from a pharmacy on Long Island, Donnelly said.
A pharmacist in Great Neck called the doctor's office and heard the message that said 'My e-prescription has been compromised. Do not fill any scripts.,' Donnelly said.
The pharmacist had noticed that a prescription received out of Florida seemed odd and alerted Nassau County police. It led to a year-long investigation that culminated in the arrest of Magarian this week.
The suspect's attorney, Douglas Rankin, spoke outside of the courtroom on Friday.
"It's his first time being in trouble with the law," the defense attorney said, "and we are going to exonerate him."
Of the 19 charges that Magarian faces, the most serious one, the sale of a controlled substance, has a prison sentence of 8 - 20 years if convicted.
District Attorney Donnelly, as well as Frank Tarantino, of the DEA, said at Friday's news conference that the investigation is ongoing, nationwide, and they expect more charges against Magarian in the months ahead.
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