FORMER PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY EMPLOYEE SENTENCED TO SIX YEARS IN PRISON FOR TAKING THOUSANDS OF OXYCODONE PILLS

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Usharani Alexander, 64, of Bellerose, was sentenced to six years in prison followed by two years of post-release supervision, for stealing thousands of oxycodone pills from her former employer, a Suffolk County-based pharmaceutical company.

“The pills that this defendant took from her employer are highly addictive, and when not used as prescribed, they can kill, as evidenced by the current opioid epidemic,” said District Attorney Tierney. “I urge anyone seeking to purchase pills on the street, rather than legally obtain them through a prescription, to consider that while many pills may look legitimate, they are likely to be deadly.”

According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during her guilty plea allocution, in 2022, Alexander was employed as an operator for the packaging department at a pharmaceutical company in Brookhaven. On four separate dates in summer 2022, surveillance video captured Alexander using her key card to gain access into the packaging area at times when she was not scheduled to be there.

Prior to entering the packaging area, Alexander was seen empty handed. Once inside the packaging area, she was observed taking thousands of oxycodone pills before moving to an area that was not in view of the surveillance cameras. Alexander was then seen on video surveillance exiting the packaging area while carrying a weighted bag.

The pharmaceutical company discovered the theft after an audit uncovered a discrepancy between the amount of oxycodone pills that were manufactured, and the number of pills that were packaged for distribution.

On February 7, 2024, Alexander pleaded guilty to four counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Degree, Class B felonies, before Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski.

On May 30, 2024, Justice Pilewski sentenced Alexander to six years in prison to be followed by two years of post-release supervision. Alexander was represented by Steven Gaitman, Esq. and Jason Russo, Esq.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Lauren Golombek of the Narcotics Bureau, and the investigation was conducted by Detective Daniel Hogan from the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homicide Section and members of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

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Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments.

Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

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