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Judge cites flaws as steroids case tossed -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY
ALBANY -- A judge threw out a criminal indictment Thursday against five operators of an Orlando pharmacy who were identified by Albany County prosecutors as the primary targets of a multistate drug investigation that drew national attention.
The dismissal comes 19 months after a series of raids of wellness clinics and pharmacies in Florida ignited the professional sports world and led to the discipline of pro wrestlers, NFL figures and Major League Baseball players.
Numerous celebrities also were among thousands of customers who obtained steroids, human growth hormone and other regulated substances from Orlando's Signature Compounding Pharmacy.
The judge's decision was handed down about three hours before a former New York Police Department officer, Anthony Forgione, pleaded guilty in an adjacent courtroom -- and before a different judge -- to a three-count felony indictment related to the same case.
Forgione, whose South Florida home was raided last fall, became the 17th person to plead guilty to felony charges in the case, which targeted 24 people. He admitted funneling phony prescriptions to Signature pharmacy, whose managers often solicited business through clinics such as Forgione's, records show.
Still, the stinging decision by Albany County Judge Stephen W. Herrick in the Signature case cites a series of missteps in the grand jury proceedings by the district attorney's office, and prohibits prosecutors from presenting the case again to another grand jury.
District Attorney David Soares said his office intends to appeal the judge's dismissal and is "confident" the case will move forward.
"We believe with this appeal we're going to be right back here litigating this matter in a few months," Soares said.
The indictment had been brought against Stan and Naomi Loomis, the husband-and-wife operators of Signature; Michael Loomis, who is a pharmacist at Signature and Stan's brother; Kirk Calvert, the company's former business manager, and Anthony Palladino, another former manager.
"This has been a very long ordeal for Naomi and Stan Loomis, and I'm really happy for them that it's over," said Brian W. Devane, an Albany attorney who handled the case for the couple.
Herrick's dismissal will not undo the guilty pleas to felony charges by more than a dozen doctors and operators of so-called wellness centers, who had struck deals and agreed to testify against the operators of Signature pharmacy.
In addition to the felony convictions of six physicians, the sprawling investigation by the state Health Department's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and the Albany County district attorney's office shut down several wellness centers in Florida, New York and Texas. It also resulted in cash seizures and forfeitures of almost $1 million, which authorities said was the largest on record for the district attorney's office.
Despite their success in netting convictions, prosecutors and law enforcement investigators have privately and publicly stated that the pharmacy operators were the primary targets in the more than three-year investigation.
ALBANY -- A judge threw out a criminal indictment Thursday against five operators of an Orlando pharmacy who were identified by Albany County prosecutors as the primary targets of a multistate drug investigation that drew national attention.
The dismissal comes 19 months after a series of raids of wellness clinics and pharmacies in Florida ignited the professional sports world and led to the discipline of pro wrestlers, NFL figures and Major League Baseball players.
Numerous celebrities also were among thousands of customers who obtained steroids, human growth hormone and other regulated substances from Orlando's Signature Compounding Pharmacy.
The judge's decision was handed down about three hours before a former New York Police Department officer, Anthony Forgione, pleaded guilty in an adjacent courtroom -- and before a different judge -- to a three-count felony indictment related to the same case.
Forgione, whose South Florida home was raided last fall, became the 17th person to plead guilty to felony charges in the case, which targeted 24 people. He admitted funneling phony prescriptions to Signature pharmacy, whose managers often solicited business through clinics such as Forgione's, records show.
Still, the stinging decision by Albany County Judge Stephen W. Herrick in the Signature case cites a series of missteps in the grand jury proceedings by the district attorney's office, and prohibits prosecutors from presenting the case again to another grand jury.
District Attorney David Soares said his office intends to appeal the judge's dismissal and is "confident" the case will move forward.
"We believe with this appeal we're going to be right back here litigating this matter in a few months," Soares said.
The indictment had been brought against Stan and Naomi Loomis, the husband-and-wife operators of Signature; Michael Loomis, who is a pharmacist at Signature and Stan's brother; Kirk Calvert, the company's former business manager, and Anthony Palladino, another former manager.
"This has been a very long ordeal for Naomi and Stan Loomis, and I'm really happy for them that it's over," said Brian W. Devane, an Albany attorney who handled the case for the couple.
Herrick's dismissal will not undo the guilty pleas to felony charges by more than a dozen doctors and operators of so-called wellness centers, who had struck deals and agreed to testify against the operators of Signature pharmacy.
In addition to the felony convictions of six physicians, the sprawling investigation by the state Health Department's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and the Albany County district attorney's office shut down several wellness centers in Florida, New York and Texas. It also resulted in cash seizures and forfeitures of almost $1 million, which authorities said was the largest on record for the district attorney's office.
Despite their success in netting convictions, prosecutors and law enforcement investigators have privately and publicly stated that the pharmacy operators were the primary targets in the more than three-year investigation.