Englishtown, N.J., Pharmacy Burglar Sentenced To Four Years In Prison For Conspiracy To Distribute Stolen Oxycodone

TRENTON, N.J. - A Brooklyn, N.Y., man was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for his involvement in a plot to burglarize a pharmacy in Englishtown, N.J., and distribute stolen narcotics, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Dzheykhun Avshalumov, 24, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone. Judge Wolfson imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

The Union Hill-Supremo Pharmacy in Englishtown was burglarized shortly after 4:00 a.m. on June 17, 2012. Avshalumov and his conspirators filled 17 garbage bags and two cardboard boxes with merchandise from the pharmacy, including approximately 1,988 dosage units of methylphenidate, 500 dosage units of hydromorphone, 300 dosage units of Opana (a trade name for oxymorphone) and 3,800 dosage units of oxycodone – all Schedule II controlled substances. 

The stock lost by the pharmacy was valued at approximately $350,000. Avshalumov admitted that he stole the drugs, and that he did so knowing they would be distributed.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson sentenced Avshalumov to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $334,722.12 in restitution.

Two of Avshalumov’s conspirators have previously pleaded guilty to this criminal conduct. James Zarbailov pleaded guilty before Judge Wolfson to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone. Zarbailov was sentenced to 63 months in prison on Nov. 18, 2013. David Mordukhaev pleaded guilty before Judge Wolfson to the same offense, and was sentenced to 65 months in prison on Dec. 11, 2013.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Red Bank Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, and law enforcement officers from the Marlboro Township Police Department, under the direction of Police Chief Bruce E. Hall, for the investigation leading to today’s sentence.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Clabby of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.

13-477                                        

Defense counsel: Michael A. Armstrong Esq., Willingboro, N.J.