A Rikers Island doctor and part-time physician was arrested at his Harlem office this week in the bust of an oxycodone ring that provided New York City with millions of pills over a five year period. According to the NYPD, 73-year-old Dr. Robert Gibbs wrote prescriptions for people that he never met after the names were given to him by 44-year-old Ronald Vaughn. Vaughn had a crew of people fill up the prescriptions at various pharmacies across the city.
During the raid of his office, evidence including medical records and $45,000 in cash were discovered by the NYPD and DEA. Authorities believe that Gibbs met Vaughn while working at Rikers, as Vaughn spent six months at the famous jail for possession of a controlled substance. However, authorities do not believe that Gibbs was involved in illegal activity at Rikers.
Police got wind of Gibbs and Vaughn's operation thanks to illegal transactions made at an Upper East Side pharmacy between July and August 2011. Furthermore, police say that Gibbs penned nearly 7,300 prescriptions for controlled substances between January 2008 and August 2012. 88 percent of them were for oxycodone.
Over half of the prescriptions were given to just 9 percent of his patients. Gibbs was charged with 42 counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance and seven counts of criminal facilitation. Vaughn has been charged with conspiracy, fraud and attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance.
Though it hasn't been proven that Gibbs was involved in anything illegal at Rikers, this is still another reason why it's one of the craziest jails in the world.
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[via Gothamist]
