Pharmacist sentenced to 8 years in federal prison for illegally dispensing drugs

A New Baltimore pharmacist was ordered to serve eight years and four months in federal prison and forfeit over $750,000 for illegally dispensing thousands of doses of prescription drugs

Hasna Bashir Iwas, 62, who owned Beacon Pointe Pharmacy on Jefferson Avenue in Grosse Pointe Park, received the sentence Wednesday from United States District Judge Laurie J. Michelson. She faced a term of up to 20 years.

Iwas was convicted of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and 25 other counts of specific incidents of illicitly distributing opioids, benzodiazepines and promethazine from 2016 to 2018, following a trial that ended last November in U.S. District Court in Detroit. She was acquitted of one count.

Iwas regularly filled many prescriptions issued by a local doctor, Otis Crawford, who was charged with unlawfully writing controlled substance prescriptions. He pleaded guilty to the charge but died in 2021 at age 83 before his sentencing. A co-defendant was Debbie Ann Taylor, Crawford’s office manager on Mack Avenue near Outer Drive in Detroit. She pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Taylor directed Crawford to fill fake prescriptions she received from two co-defendants, her brother, Earnie Ronnie Jaew Taylor of River Rouge, who is deceased, and his live-in companion, Michell White, for them to resell them “in the illegal street market,” officials said. Taylor and White were scheduled to be sentenced last month, but their court records were unavailable late Thursday afternoon.

Iwas distributed over 300,000 dosage units of controlled substances that had an estimated street value of $1.8 to $3.3 million.

Under the sentencing, she will forfeit gross income of $781,546 she gained for her illegal acts.

“My office will continue to devote resources to prosecuting healthcare professionals such as this defendant, who use their trusted roles as healthcare providers to deal drugs in our community,” said U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison.

Iwas’ pharmacy license is set to lapse in 2025, according to state records.

The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services — Office of Inspector General, with assistance from the Detroit Police Department.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne F. Pratt, while forfeiture litigation was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gjon Juncaj.