Pharmacy ex-chief convicted of fraud

BOSTON — The former head of a Massachusetts pharmacy was convicted Wednesday of racketeering and other charges over a meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people across the country and was traced to funguscontaminated drugs.

Prosecutors said Barry Cadden, 50, ran the business in an “extraordinarily dangerous” way by skirting regulations on cleanliness to boost production and make more money.

Cadden, president and cofounder of the now-closed New England Compounding Center, was charged with 25 counts of second-degree murder, conspiracy and other offenses under federal racketeering law.

After five days of deliberations, the jury found Cadden wasn’t responsible for the deaths and acquitted him on the murder counts. He was found guilty of racketeering, conspiracy and fraud. Sentencing was scheduled for June 21.

The 2012 outbreak of meningitis and other infections in 20 states was traced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contaminated injections of medical steroids, given mostly to people with back pain. In addition to those killed, 700 people fell ill. Indiana, Michigan and Tennessee were hit hardest.

“It was preventable, but it happened because this man, Barry Cadden, decided to put profits before patients,” federal prosecutor Amanda Strachan told the jury during closing arguments.

Cadden’s lawyers said he was not responsible for the deaths. They said Glenn Chin, a supervisory pharmacist, ran the so-called clean rooms where drugs were made.

The racketeering charge and the 52 counts of fraud carry up to 20 years each.