Pharmacist, 81, charged in sex-for-pills scheme

DEA data allegedly showed thousands of missing tablets

MEDIA » An 81-year-old Media, Delaware County, pharmacist has been charged with sexual extortion and other crimes for allegedly exchanging sex acts for money and controlled substances. Martin Brian, of the first block of Steeplechase Drive, was the owner of the defunct Murray-Overhill Pharmacy on State Street. He is additionally charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, distribution of a controlled substance to a drug-dependent person, dispensing a controlled substance in a manner inconsistent with the rules of the medical profession, and criminal use of a communication facility.

“An octogenarian pharmacist — whose profession is dedicated to serving the health needs of the community with honesty and integrity — traded drugs for sexual favors,” said District

Attorney Jack Stollsteimer in a release announcing the charges. “In doing so, he allowed his need for sexual gratification to override any sense of personal or professional responsibility to the community. His actions risked the life of every individual receiving these illicitly obtained drugs.”

Media Borough Police were dispatched to check on an unconscious man and woman parked at the rear of Brian’s pharmacy at 30 W. State Street about 8:32 a.m. April 18, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Delaware County Detective Sgt. Anthony Ruggieri.

The two were conscious in a silver Toyota Camry with Florida tags when officers arrived and said they were waiting for a friend to pick up a prescription in the pharmacy. The woman was later texting someone and did not stop when officers told her to, according to the affidavit.

Another woman soon exited the rear of the pharmacy and officers asked her to come into the parking lot, but she reversed course and headed back inside, the affidavit says. Brian then came outside and asked if everything was alright. Officers were able to get the woman — identified as “S.E.” in the affidavit — to come back out of the pharmacy and speak with her, the affidavit says.

S.E. said she had left her phone at the pharmacy when she drove her mother there earlier in the week to pick up a prescription. She described Brian as a friend and said she wanted to show him pictures of her newborn twins.

Brian also described S.E. as a “friend of a friend” and said she had shown him pictures of the newborns, but did not mention anything about her coming to retrieve a phone. Officers confiscated phones from the woman in the car and S.E. pending a search warrant.

Investigators later found Brian had instructed S.E. to tell police “U r friend and u were showing pics of ur babies … nothing more” during the period police were investigating the car behind the pharmacy, according to the affidavit. S.E. had also texted the man in the car about that same time, saying “I had 60 30s and 60 zies but I had to toss them inside when I saw them all out here,” the affidavit says.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency conducted an audit of the pharmacy on April 20 for the past five years and found numerous discrepancies in stores of Oxycodone and Xanax. Brian was allegedly short 58,483 tablets of Oxycodone 30mg and short 31,973 tablets of 2mg Xanax. He was also short 11,358 tabs of 1mg Xanax, 5,610 0.5mg Xanax tablets and 228 tablets of 0.025mg Xanax, the affidavit says.

A review of DEA databases showed the MurrayOverhill Pharmacy was the largest retail purchaser of buprenorphine, fentanyl, hydrocodone and oxycodone drug products in its zip code, according to the affidavit, and that tens of thousands of tablets for these products were also unaccounted for.

S.E. allegedly admitted to DEA agents in an interview on April 26 that she had been providing him sexual favors and money in exchange for prescription medications for about a year. The two would meet up about once a week, she said, and she had given him oral sex inside the pharmacy on the morning of April 18 in exchange for controlled substances, according to the affidavit.

Police executed a search warrant at Brian’s residence in May and seized several electronic devices, as well as a white paper pharmacy bag containing what appeared to be cash in excess of $50,000, the affidavit says

Investigators also spoke to a woman identified as “J.M.” in October, who allegedly said she also had a similar arrangement with Brian going back several years. J.M. said she first met Brian through a website advertising “wealthy men seeking companionship” seven years ago and that their relationship grew into personal meet-ups that occurred nearly every other day, according to the affidavit.

These meet-ups began in hotels or his personal residence and then eventually at the pharmacy, the affidavit says. At one point about two years ago, Brian allegedly told her that he could save a lot of money on these encounters if she would accept pills instead of cash, according to the affidavit.

J.M. allegedly told Brian that was dangerous because the pills are monitored by the state, but Brian did not care and began giving her 100-count bottles of 15mg or 30mg oxycodone each time they met, the affidavit says.

“J.M. stated that she could not even count the number of manufacturer’s bottles of oxycodone that Brian gave her,” the affidavit says. “They met 2-4 times a week and he would provide her with a bottle of 100 oxycodone 30mg each time, or if he was short on oxycodone 30mg supply, then he would give her double the amount of oxycodone 15mg tablets, so it equaled the same amount.”

J.M. said she would sell the pill bottles to her heroin dealer in exchange for a $3,000 cash credit, the affidavit says. Brian also allegedly provided J.M. with 500-count 2mg Xanax tablets after she told him her sister had lost her insurance and could no longer afford medication for her seizures, the affidavit says.

“The allegations against Brian that he repeatedly distributed powerful painkillers and other controlled substances in exchange for sexual acts are repulsive and demonstrate Brian’s total disregard for his legal and ethical responsibilities as a pharmacist,” said Thomas Hodnett, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Philadelphia Field Division. “The DEA, working with its partners such as the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, the Media Borough Police Department, and the Pennsylvania Department of State, will aggressively pursue rogue pharmacists like Brian that are responsible for contributing to the opioid epidemic.”

Brian turned himself in to authorities Monday and was arraigned by Senior Magisterial District Judge Cullen, who set bail at $250,000, unsecured. No defense attorney is listed on electronic court documents. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 17 before Magisterial District Judge Walter A. Strohl.

Brian