Rockland County pharmacist accused of painkiller prescription scheme

HUNTS POINT, Bronx (WABC) -- A Rockland County pharmacist is under arrest, accused of illegally plotting to sell painkillers.

The DEA took 82-year-old Maurice Malin into custody without incident at his home in Montebello Wednesday morning.

Raids were conducted at his home and three pharmacies he runs in the Bronx, including the Point Pharmacy in Hunts Point. Agents brought out computers and boxes of evidence.

Malin has been under investigation for two years for sales of a pain medication called Butalbitol.

He is accused of operating a website getting doctors from different parts of the country to write prescriptions for patients they have never seen or given exams to.

Those prescriptions were being filled out of the Bronx pharmacies and being mailed out all over the country, authorities say.

They estimate he was mailing out 600 prescriptions a day over the past year, and had sent out over 2 million pills and grossed over $6 million since 2014.

The U.S. Postal Service is assisting in the investigation.

Malin is charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.