Pharmacy Owner Receives Jail In Medicaid Fraud

Attorney General Spitzer announced today that a Woodbury pharmacy owner was sentenced to jail for stealing $257,000 from the Medicaid program.

On November 30, 2005, Maher Ishak, owner of Woodbury Pharmacy, was sentenced by Orange County Court Judge Jeffrey G. Berry to a term of 90 days in jail and to five years’ probation following his May 5, 2005, guilty plea to Grand Larceny in the Third Degree. At his plea, Ishak admitted that he stole $257,000 from the Medicaid program in a fraudulent scheme that spanned nearly six years, from January 9, 1998, through November 10, 2003. During that time, Ishak submitted hundreds of false reimbursement claims for medications which he never dispensed and, in some instances, which had never been prescribed.

Prior to his sentencing, Ishak repaid the $257,000 that he stole. At his sentencing, he also agreed to repay the Medicaid program an additional $843,455 to resolve civil allegations that he and his pharmacy were overpaid. To date, Ishak has repaid approximately $395,000 of this civil liability. Woodbury Pharmacy, Inc., which had also previously been convicted of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, was ordered by Judge Berry to be jointly liable with Ishak to make full restitution and, in addition, to pay a criminal fine of $5,000.

Maher Ishak resides at One Chimney Ridge Drive, Harriman, New York. Woodbury Pharmacy Inc. is located at 535 Route 32 Highland Mills, New York.
Special Assistant Attorney General Anne Schaible Jardine, Deputy Regional Director in Charge of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s Pearl River Office, prosecuted the case. Principal Special Auditor Ann Winslow, Senior Special Auditor David Lee and Senior Special Investigator Frank DiChiaro assisted in the investigation.