Crime & Safety

Former Nassau County Jail Medical Director Arrested For Selling Fake Painkiller Prescriptions

The former medical director of the Nassau County Correctional Center sold fake prescriptions to an undercover cop.

A former medical director of the  was arrested on Friday and charged with selling painkiller prescriptions to an undercover Rockville Centre police detective without performing any medical examination, authorities said.

Dr. Martin Roginsky, 82, of Cold Spring Harbor, was charged with 10 counts of criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance. He faces up to five-and-a-half years in prison and is due back in court on Jan. 6.

Roginsky worked as an endocrinologist for the for 36 years before being named the medical director for the Nassau County Correctional Center in 1999, a position he held for two years.

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According to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, the Rockville Centre Police Department and the DA's office began an undercover investigation into Roginsky after they received a tip in April that he was selling prescriptions for addictive, opiate-based painkillers like Oxycontin, Oxycodone and Roxycodone from his Rockville Centre office located at 2000 N. Village Ave.

An undercover Rockville Centre detective, who claimed he was experiencing back and hand pain after falling off a roof, obtained four prescriptions for Oxycodone and Roxycodone for $225 in cash. At no point did Roginsky conduct any medical examination on the undercover detective. It is estimated that Roginsky took in more than $261,000 by selling prescriptions. The street value of the pills is estimated to be between $10 million and $15 million.

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"So-called doctors like this defendant are the reason why so many of our young people are getting hooked on opiate-based painkillers, and eventually heroin," Rice said. "By flooding our streets with addictive painkillers, they are no better than a common drug dealer on the corner."

The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.


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