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Press Release

Rochester Attorney Pleads Guilty To Obtaining A Controlled Substance By Misrepresentation

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of New York

CONTACT:   Barbara Burns    
PHONE:      (716) 843-5817
FAX:         (716) 551-3051           

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Salvatore J. Marcera, Jr., 54, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. to obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation. The charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both. The defendant will also pay restitution in the amount of $1,965.71 to Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank H. Sherman, who handled the case, stated that on July 28, 2006, the defendant was a sole practitioner attorney in Rochester. Marcera obtained prescriptions from a medical doctor, including OxyContin and Roxycodone, both of which contain oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance. The defendant did this on behalf of his brother, who was incarcerated in the Monroe County Jail at the time. In order to obtain the prescriptions, Marcera claimed that the drugs were medically necessary for his brother, knowing that in fact the prescriptions were not medically necessary.

After obtaining the prescriptions, the defendant then gave them to another family member knowing that family members would arrange to have the prescriptions filled at a pharmacy on behalf of Marcera’s brother. The prescriptions were subsequently filled at a pharmacy and paid for by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.

As part of the same case, Marcera was previously convicted of filing a false personal income tax return for tax years 2004 through 2007 by understating the gross receipts of his law practice. The defendant was sentenced in March 2014 to five years of probation, including one year of home confinement, on the tax charges. Marcera also was ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $104,074.

The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Shantelle P. Kitchen, Acting Special Agent in Charge, New York Field Office.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 2, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Geraci.

Updated December 5, 2014