Former City Pharmacist Sentenced to 10 Years for Dealing Illegal Drugs

PHILADELPHIA—Lawrence Young, 70, a former licensed Philadelphia pharmacy owner from Cherry Hill, NJ, was sentenced this afternoon to 120 months in prison for a drug conspiracy and drug distribution involving Young’s Pharmacy at 1306 South Street in Philadelphia, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger. Young was convicted December 3, 2009 by a federal jury of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and distribution of controlled substances.

Between 2001 and October 2006, Young operated the pharmacy as a haven for drug dealers and drug addicts who went there to fill sham medical prescriptions for frequently abused prescription drugs containing controlled substances, such as Percocet, Lorcet, and Xanax, and the frequently abused syrups Tussionex and Phenergan with Codeine. The drug dealers and drug addicts fraudulently obtained the sham prescriptions in their own names and in the names of others from corrupt doctors, such as Joseph L. Borkson, who issued the invalid prescriptions. Young filled the prescriptions knowing they were shams. Borkson pleaded guilty and was sentenced in September to 60 months in prison.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge J. Curtis Joyner ordered Young to pay a $400,000 fine, to forfeit $1,270,246 in proceeds, and ordered three years’ supervised release.

Young filled bundles of multiple sham prescriptions for frequently abused prescription drugs for regular drug-dealing customers whom he personally observed and dealt with in exchange for cash and other benefits. To avoid detection, Young set an artificial limit on the number of prescriptions he would fill per day.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander T.H. Nguyen and Andrea G. Foulkes.