Crime & Safety

Little Silver Doctor Sentenced to Nearly 5 Years in Prison for Role in Drug Ring

Fair Haven resident Jaqueline LoPresti was sentenced to 57 months for writing illegal prescriptions for Oxycodone.

Fair Haven resident and Little Silver doctor, Jacqueline LoPresti, 52, was sentenced Monday afternoon to almost five years, or 57 months, in prison for her role in an illegal Oxycodone distribution ring, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

LoPresti, a doctor of osteopathy who is also a Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School alumni, had pleaded guilty in federal court in October to one count of conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone, and was also charged with 11 counts of distribution of the narcotic.

In the guilty plea documentation, LoPresti admitted to conspiring with New York Dr. Hassan Lahham in writing more than 6,000 illegal prescriptions for roughly 500,000 pills in 2009 that were purchased by patients with cash only, leaving no payment or paperwork records.

The drugs obtained from the allegedly illegal prescriptions were then “filled at various pharmacies located in and around Monmouth, Ocean, and Atlantic counties, NJ and redistributed by others,” an October U.S. Attorney’s statement said.

According to a U.S. District Court document, LoPresti on “or about June 27, 2009 through Sept. 7, 2009, in Monmouth County, in the District of New Jersey and elsewhere … did knowingly and intentionally conspire to distribute and possess with intent to distribute Oxycodone …”

The court document also said that proceeds from the offense, which were seized “on or about Oct. 20, 2011,” included roughly $436,000 in U.S. currency, and $29,000 in “additional proceeds.”

Oxycodone is a Schedule II narcotic, the active ingredient of which is in brand name pills such as Oxycontin, Roxicodone and Percocet, the October U.S. Attorney statement explained.

The designation of a Schedule II controlled substance indicates that a drug has “a high potential for abuse … and abuse of the drug may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence,” the statement said.


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