Rochester Man Sentenced for His Role in Oxycontin Conspiracy

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that James Marsh, 73, of Rochester, NY, who was convicted following a jury trial of conspiring to distribute OxyContin, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer to five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $34,033.61 to the Medicaid program.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles Moynihan and John Field, who handled the case, stated that Marsh conspired with co-defendants Shantel Williams, Jimmie Lee Simmons, Anestacia Wilson, Betina Wilson, and Stacy Clark, to obtain OxyContin through fraudulent prescriptions.  Marsh paid Shantel Williams approximately $800 for each fraudulent prescription that was written using the names and Medicaid information of fake patients Anestacia Wilson, Bettina Wilson, Stacy Clark, and others. The defendant escorted the fake patients to various local pharmacies, where they would have the fraudulent prescriptions filled. Marsh would then distribute the OxyContin to his customers.

All defendants in the case have been convicted.

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration under the direction of James J. Hunt, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division, and the Office of the New York State Attorney General, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, under the direction of Acting Director Amy Held.