Dr. Eric Jacobson, whose Great Neck office was closed down last Friday, continued to illegally traffic painkillers after the Northern Boulevard building was raided by federal agents in December, according to documents filed by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
A Huntington resident, Jacobson was charged last Wednesday with conspiracy to distribute oxycodone to individuals he knew were diverting, or reselling, the painkillers to addicts.
Jacobson is one of 98 suspects now facing charges following a joint initiative between the Drug Enforcement Administration and local law enforcement officials, which was intended to crack down on the abuse and illegal distribution of prescription medications.
“Faced with the growing threat of prescription drug trafficking and abuse, this office and our partners have joined forces to coordinate our attack against a menace every bit as dangerous as trafficking in cocaine or other narcotics,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Loretta Lynch said in a statement.
But Great Neck attorney John Martin, who is representing Jacobson, said the charges against his client are without merit.
“We believe that he has not committed any crimes and that all the government is pursing is a difference of opinion between him and another doctor who worked for him,” Martin said.
Jacobson’s office was raided by DEA and Internal Revenue Service agents in December after an investigation revealed the doctor had allegedly prescribed thousands of painkillers to David Laffer and his wife Melinda Brady.
Last June, Laffer and Brady murdered four people while robbing a Medford pharmacy.
Although Jacobson was not arrested following the raid, he did give up his ability to write prescriptions for painkillers, documents filed in federal court by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said.
Over the next several weeks, however, Jacobson hired a doctor with DEA approval to write prescriptions, the court documents said.
The newly employed doctor concluded that 10 percent of the practice’s patients were drug dealers and another 25 percent did not appear to have proper physician referrals for the pain medication, the court documents said.
Upon confronting his employers with these findings, authorities said the unidentified doctor was allegedly mocked by Jacobson.
“You should be a detective and not a doctor,” the court documents said Jacobson told the physician.
Last year, Jacobson treated 100 patients per day at his office on 277 Northern Boulevard in Great Neck, the court documents said.
Patients were charged between $12,000 to $20,000 in cash by Jacobson for appointments, authorities said.
Jacobson was held without bail last Wednesday following his arraignment in federal court in Central Islip last Wednesday.
“We’re very upset that he’s being held without bail,” Martin said last Friday. “He’s clearly not a danger to the community.”
Martin said it was a matter of “medical judgment,” not for a federal judge to decide, who made mistakes in treating the patients at Jacobson’s practice.
When still practicing medicine, Martin said Jacobson followed the proper procedures for diagnosing drug abusers. The attorney said his client conducted drug tests and checked the medical records of each of his patients and checked the federal database for any prior instances of painkiller abuse.
Jacobson also made his patients sign documents to ensure they were taking the prescriptions legally, Martin said.
“I don’t know who is right,” the attorney said. “I’m not a medical expert, but I don’t think whoever was wrong is a criminal.”
Martin said a decision was made last week that Jacobson’s office would be closed down due to his incarceration and because the physician’s colleague, Dr. Gordon Raskin, quit the practice.
Although Newsday reported that Nassau County police closed down Jacobson’s office, Martin said those reports were misleading.
“The business was still there, but without Dr. Jacobson, and with Dr. Raskin quitting, there was no reason to keep it open,” Martin said of his client’s practice.
There are no current plans to reopen Jacobson’s office, Martin said.
