Peters Township pharmacist sentenced to prison for painkiller fraud
A Peters Township pharmacist who pleaded guilty in federal court last year to fraudulently obtaining and selling painkillers was sentenced to prison Thursday.
Timothy W. Forester, 46, of 103 Windsor Court, Venetia, was sentenced to serve one year in federal prison and ordered to pay $649,524 in restitution, along with a $10,000 fine.
Forester owned Prescription Center Plus pharmacies in McMurray, Eighty Four and South Park, along with Century Square Pharmacy in West Mifflin, where he fraudulently obtained and sold oxycodone and hydrocodone from November 2018 through February 2019.
According to investigators, Forester did not place the drugs into the inventories at his four pharmacies and did not maintain records showing that they were dispensed.
He also labeled generic drugs as name brand medicine and sold them at a more expensive rate.
Investigators said he also filled prescriptions using the generic drugs while billing Medicare and Medicaid at the higher name brand rate, which authorities estimated defrauded the federal programs by about $680,000.
Forester pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh in September to obtaining controlled substances of fraud, misbranding of drugs and health care fraud conspiracy after he was indicted in June 2019.
His Michigan-based attorney, Ashli Summer McKeivier, did not return a phone message seeking comment Thursday afternoon.
After Forester finishes his prison term, he will be required to serve two years on supervised release, according to the sentence handed down by Senior U.S. District Judge David Steward Cercone. Forester faced up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.