Long Island Doctor Indicted for Causing Oxycodone Overdose Deaths of Two Patients

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. - Long Island physician William J. Conway has been charged with causing the deaths of two patients through the distribution of the highly addictive pain-killer oxycodone. The indictment also charges Conways former office assistant, Robert Hachemeister, with conspiracy and distribution of oxycodone. Hachemeister was arrested by federal agents this morning and is scheduled to be arraigned later today before United States District Judge Leonard D. Wexler, at the U.S. Courthouse in Central Islip, New York. On June 6, 2012, as part of a federal and state prescription drug abuse initiative within the Eastern District of New York, Conway was arrested by members of a task force comprising DEA special agents and Nassau County Police Department detectives on charges of illegally distributing oxycodone to numerous individuals between 2009 and 2012. Conway has been in custody since his arrest. According to court filings and records of the New York State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, Conway issued 5,554 oxycodone prescriptions 782,032 pills to numerous individuals between January 2009 and November 2011, who the defendant knew were addicted to drugs and without performing any meaningful medical examination. The charges are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. During the execution of a federal search warrant at his offices on February 29, 2012, Conway voluntarily surrendered his DEA registration authorizing him to prescribe controlled substances. However, he continued to issue prescriptions after that date. The indictment charges Conway with causing the deaths of two Long Island men to whom he had distributed oxycodone. According to court filings by the government: (1) On April 23, 2011, Giovanni Manzella died of an overdose of oxycodone less than 48 hours after Conway provided him with two prescriptions totaling 450 pills of the drug; and (2) On October 27, 2011, Christopher Basmas was pronounced dead of an overdose of oxycodone and other narcotics two days after Conway provided him with a prescription for 180 pills of oxycodone. Patient records seized in this case reveal that patients who obtained oxycodone prescriptions received nothing more than perfunctory examinations, essentially consisting of notations of the patients height, weight and blood pressure. After Basmass death, Conway allegedly attempted to alter various patient files, and continued to issue prescriptions for oxycodone and other controlled substances, in some instances in the names of individuals he had never treated or even met. Hachemeister, who worked as an office assistant for Conway since approximately 1995, possesses no medical or nursing degree. However, between 2011 and 2012, he allegedly distributed thousands of oxycodone pills using prescription pads that were pre-signed by Conway. Hachemeister is charged with conspiring with Conway to illegally distribute oxycodone, and both men are charged together in 34 counts of distribution of oxycodone. Conway is also charged in eight additional counts with the distribution of the controlled substances hydrocodone and alprazolam. If convicted of causing the Manzella or Basmas deaths, Conway faces a mandatory-minimum of 20 years imprisonment and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Both Conway and Hachemeister face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the remaining charges.