New York Pharmacist Sentenced… (2023)

What Happened

Queens pharmacist Daniel E. Russo was sentenced Nov. 29, 2023 to 60 months in prison plus three years of supervised release after a February 2023 guilty plea to oxycodone distribution conspiracy and false tax return counts.

Reported status: Pleaded guilty; sentenced (2023) to 60 months in prison.

About This Entry

This entry reports only what the linked source states. Fields the source does not state (for example the employer type, drug schedule or a sentence) are left out rather than inferred, so it is shorter than the registry's fully analysed cases.

Related Guidance

Pharmacy Self-Assessment Checklist — Self-assessment covering the controls that detect and deter diversion.
15 Red Flags of Drug Diversion — Behavioral and recordkeeping indicators of diversion.
Investigation Playbook — How to run an internal diversion investigation.
Employee Screening & Fitness for Duty — Screening and vetting for staff with controlled substance access.

Sources

https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/enforcement/queens-pharmacist-sentenced-to-60-months-in-prison-for-illegally-distributing-oxycodone-and-filing-false-tax-returns/

Case at a Glance

Setting: Pharmacist (New York)
Drug: Oxycodone
Method: Charge as worded in the source: conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone; distribution and possession of oxycodone; nine counts of filing false personal and corporate tax returns
Status: Pleaded guilty; sentenced (2023) to 60 months in prison

Primary source: https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/enforcement/queens-pharmacist-sentenced-to-60-months-in-prison-for-illegally-distributing-oxycodone-and-filing-false-tax-returns/

What this case shows

Where this record connects to the site's working material. Links are chosen from the case's setting, drug and method fields.

Share: LinkedIn X Facebook

Last reviewed: September 2026 · Educational content, not legal advice.

About the author

DivertGuard is built and maintained by Alex Rodriguez, MHIIM, CPhT (also known as Jesus Rodriguez) — a drug diversion prevention program manager with more than a decade in pharmacy practice, including direct responsibility for a health-system controlled substance diversion prevention program.

Conference presentations

2025 — The Rounding Revolution: A High-Tech Approach to Diversion Prevention (with Emily Spiceland, PharmD)
2024 — No Pill Left Behind: Strategies for Comprehensive Drug Accountability (with Eric Andrews)
2022 — Ready for My Close Up! Implementing, Maintaining, and Expanding Drug Diversion Prevention Cameras (with Jeremy Quinn, Shawn Young, and John Bailey)

Other professional engagement

Faculty, ASHP Drug Diversion Certificate
Speaker, Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA)
Published author, Pharmacy Purchasing & Products

Credentials

Doctorate candidate — Doctor of Health Informatics (DHI), Rutgers University, School of Health Professions; research on health data analytics and the prediction of cognitive decline
MHIIM — master's in health informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center (2019–2021)
CPhT — Certified Pharmacy Technician, with 10+ years of pharmacy practice across retail, hospice, compounding, home-health, and hospital settings

The assessment items, weighting, and case registry behind this site come from that operational background — building and running a diversion prevention program, not from vendor marketing. Every tool here is free, requires no signup, and is based on published regulatory and professional standards (DEA, Joint Commission, ASHP, CDC).

Full author bio and credentials →

Related Resources

Diversion Settlements & Fines

Settlements, civil penalties and criminal fines paid by hospitals and pharmacies in documented drug diversion cases, with the amount, year and primary source for each

Penalty Outcomes in the Case Records

Counts of the outcomes the registry records state: prison, probation, fines, licence actions and restitution, with stated sentence lengths by band and by drug class

Registry Insights: Sentences, Fines, States and Outcomes

Sentence lengths, fines and restitution, cases per 100,000 pharmacists by state, and plea and licence outcomes, each counted from the case records with its n, plus charts of cases by year, state and drug class

New York Pharmacist Sentenced in Opioid Diversion Case (2023)