Pocono News Section

Carbon County Pharmacist Admits to Stealing More Than $500K

Carbon County Pharmacist Admits to Stealing More Than $500K - Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 04:19AM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill
Wednesday May 26 2010
Carbon County Pharmacist Admits to Stealing More Than $500K 0/ 5 rating SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY -- A Carbon County pharmacist accused of stealing more than $500,000 pleaded guilty today in federal court.

John Roman was scheduled for arraignment, but instead he told a judge he was guilty. Roman was the owner of the Community Pharmacy on River Street in Jim Thorpe. He pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and admitted to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from three drug manufacturers.

Roman tried to avoid our camera as he left federal court in Scranton Wednesday afternoon. But just a short time earlier he couldn't avoid the fact that prosecutors say he stole more than $546,000 from three drug manufacturers while he was the owner of the Community Pharmacy in Jim Thorpe.

According to Roman's plea agreement, the 36-year-old took the money over a three year period from April 2006 to January 2009. They say he devised quite a scheme. Investigators say he downloaded vouchers and coupons for free medications, then submitted them to three different companies under fake names.

In federal court Wednesday, John Roman pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. The maximum penalty for that is up to 20 years in prison and a 250,000 fine. In court, prosecutors say his plea deal will likely mean he'll get between two and three years behind bars.

Prosecutors only announced the charges against roman in late April. By agreeing to plead guilty Wednesday, the Carbon County pharmacist agreed to make full restitution and agreed to forfeit his Community Pharmacy business which has been closed for about a year.

A sentencing date for John Roman has been set for August 25th. Another man, Andrew Dancha of Allentown, was also charged in this investigation. Prosecutors say he sold drug samples he got to Roman.