YOUNGSTOWN Board suspends druggist's license

The pharmacy board fined the druggist $42,500 and his pharmacy $25,000.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Ohio State Board of Pharmacy has suspended Richard A. Petrella's license for two years for forging prescriptions at Dick's McGuffey Pharmacy.
The Canfield pharmacist can appeal, said Tim Benedict, OSBP assistant executive director.
The board also fined Petrella $42,500 and his pharmacy at 790 N. Garland Ave. $25,000.
Petrella, a pharmacist since 1969, pleaded no contest to five counts of illegal processing of drug documents and five counts of dangerous drug distribution.
He must appear in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on April 24 for sentencing.
He faces a maximum of 12 months in prison and a $2,500 fine on each processing count and 18 months and a $5,000 fine on each drug count.
Petrella's plea agreement indicates that the state, represented by Robert E. Duffrin, an assistant county prosecutor, will recommend probation to Judge Jack Durkin. The druggist's lawyer, Gregg A. Rossi, could not be reached to comment.
What he did: The pharmacy board said Petrella submitted false prescription claims between Nov. 29, 1997, and March 23, 1999, and was reimbursed by United Healthcare. For prosecution purposes, investigators reviewed the files of five randomly selected patients out of 180.
George Pavlich, an OSBP agent, the Youngstown Police Department vice squad and Mahoning Valley Drug Task Force investigated the case.
Petrella sold drugs without prescriptions from doctors and created false billing records, an OSBP report shows.
"He wasn't putting pills on the street," Patrolman Thomas Malone, a member of the vice squad, said. "He was refilling prescriptions for people or making it look like he was."