North Side Woman Sentenced to 2 Years in Federal Prison for Conspiring to Distribute Prescription Painkillers and Health Care Fraud

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 25 months’ imprisonment followed by four years supervised release on her convictions for conspiring to commit health care fraud and conspiring to distribute oxycodone, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.

United States District Judge Mark R. Hornak imposed the sentence on Teresa Bernardi, 56.

According to information presented to the court, Bernardi participated in a criminal network of drug dealers that obtained opiate painkillers and then illegally distributed them to users in the Pittsburgh area. Bernardi acted as a broker to arrange for co-conspirators to sell prescription opiates they obtained using prescriptions through health care providers to William Richardson, the primary dealer in the conspiracy. The conspirators paid for the prescriptions through taxpayer funded health care insurance.

Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

United States Attorney Brady commended the Federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, and the Allegheny County Police Department, for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Bernardi.