A federal judge had strong words Thursday for two former employees of the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in Little Rock who used their positions to obtain opioids and other drugs at the hospital's expense for sale on the streets.
But after lecturing the former pharmacy technicians about using their titles to keep them above suspicion while repeatedly helping feed a national epidemic of opioid addiction, U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes ordered both to serve prison sentences that fell below the recommended penalty range of federal sentencing guidelines.
Holmes sentenced Satishkumar Patel, 45, of North Little Rock, who is also known as Steve Patel, to 48 months, or four years, in prison. The guidelines recommended 57 to 71 months, or close to six years, based on the amount of fraud involved, which Patel acknowledged totaled $77,722.59.
Patel admitted in late September that he conspired from April 2014 through July 2016 to distribute oxycodone, an addictive painkiller, by ordering it and other drugs from the hospital's supplier, McKesson Corp., and then falsifying payment invoices to cover up the scheme. The other drugs included hydrocodone, which is also an opioid, as well as cough syrup with promethazine, and Viagra and Cialis pills, which are prescribed for erectile dysfunction.
He admitted placing the drugs in a tote bag that he left in a prearranged spot in the hospital for Alisha Pagan, another pharmacy technician, to pick up. Pagan admitted she would help Patel falsify invoices and would, in turn, pass the drugs to Nikita Neal, who was a pharmacy tech trainee and admitted in late October that she then distributed the drugs to street-level dealers.
Both Pagan, 34, of Mabelvale and Neal, 43, of Little Rock have acknowledged defrauding the government-run hospital for veterans out of $22,000.
Holmes sentenced Pagan on Thursday to 30 months, or 2½ years, in prison. As a lesser player who was tied to a lower amount of fraud, she faced from 37 months, or just over three years, to 46 months, just two months shy of four years. Neal, who was the last of the three to plead guilty, is still awaiting sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hunter Bridges asked the judge to impose sentences within the guideline range for both people, citing the calculating, repetitive nature of the fraud over a sustained period of more than two years.
Bridges said that Patel had privileges others don't -- a good education, a stable job and a structured home life -- as well as a lack of criminal history, all of which put him in the trusted position he held. The prosecutor asked the judge to "send a message" to others who have an "air of authority" and are considering using it to fuel the nationwide opioid epidemic.
Holmes noted that Patel said he considers himself a thief and not a drug dealer. The judge observed that it's "not as unusual as it sounds" for people in their 30s through their 60s, and even their 70s, who have never committed a crime but who suddenly find themselves with access to other people's money, to carry out an act of dishonesty. In nearly every instance he sees, Holmes observed, most people would describe the person as someone who was unlikely to commit the offense.
The judge said that Patel's crime was "very serious, for a number of reasons," including that he defrauded his employer, a government agency that serves veterans, and diverted medications, including some that are highly addictive, away from patients to be sold on the street.
"This requires punishment beyond simply time served," he said, addressing defense attorney Jonathan Lane's request that because Patel opted to begin serving his sentence immediately in a local jail after he pleaded guilty, he should be sentenced to "time served" and released.
Patel asked the judge for 45 to 60 days of freedom before beginning his sentence in a federal prison, saying he needs to help his wife move; he needs to talk to his parents, who are in India; and he wants to visit a nephew who is scheduled for a second brain surgery. Holmes denied the request.
Similarly, in Pagan's sentencing hearing that followed Patel's, defense attorney Molly Sullivan asked the judge to allow the mother of three to serve five years' probation in lieu of a prison sentence.
Sullivan said Pagan committed her crime to obtain extra money to be able to move her children out of a bad neighborhood and that since she was indicted, she has benefited greatly from mental-health counseling and has maintained a job with the U.S. Postal Service. Sullivan also argued that Pagan has already been punished by permanently losing her pharmacy-tech license and that she has "served our country."
"I promise you, after today, you will never see me in your courtroom or anyone else's courtroom," Pagan told the judge.
But Bridges again asked the judge to impose a sentence within the guideline range. He cited a report that 80 percent of heroin users get their start through the use of opioids, and argued that a lot of those opioids "come from people who are in a position to know what these drugs do." He asked Holmes to impose a harsh sentence as a deterrence to others in the health-care industry.
Holmes again noted that he increasingly sees cases in which middle-aged people who have crime-free backgrounds and are otherwise good people think they can steal money, hide it and, if caught, request probation.
"Generally speaking," he said, "I don't accept that recommendation."
Metro on 01/12/2018