Middletown Oxy Ring Busted

Suspended Doctor Caught Selling Forged Scripts for $300-$400

The Middletown Police Department in conjunction with investigators from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the State Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Affairs broke up a prescription drug enterprise Thursday night following a month long investigation, according to a statement by Acting Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Dr. Kenneth Lewandowski

Dr. Kenneth Lewandowski, 51, of Tatum Dr , Middletown, was charged with six counts of third degree Conspiracy, six counts of third degree Forgery and the Unlawful Practice of Medicine, also a third degree crime. He was held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution on $140,000 bail as set by Middletown Municipal Judge Richard Thompson.

Lewandowski’s medical license was temporarily suspended last April after he was arrested for DUI three times in the six weeks between February 14 and March 31. His DUI arrests occurred in Middletown, Lakewood and Wall. The Lakewood incident included an accident that resulted in injuries. Lewandowski was charged with Assault by Auto in that case, according to the Order suspending his medical license.

Thomas Menendez, 50, of Geary Drive in Middletown is alleged to be Lewandowski’s partner in the criminal enterprise. Menendez was charged with six counts of third degree Conspiracy and six counts of third degree Forgery. Judge Thompson set Menendez’s bail at $30,000.

Neither Lewandowski or Menendez are currently in the custody of the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, according to APP’s Data Universe.

A tip from a Middletown pharmacist to the Middletown Police regarding a forged prescription and a complaint by another doctor to the Division of Consumer Affairs led to an investigation by Middletown Detectives Daniel Sullivan and Keith Hirschbein, the Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics and Criminal Enterprises Unit and Consumer Affairs. It was discovered that Menendez duped a practicing physician into revealing personal information that enabled Lewandowski to obtain prescription blanks in the legitimate doctors name.

Lewandowski’s patient files from his now defunct pain management practice in Lincroft, were use to find customers eager to purchase the forged prescriptions for a price of $300 to $400 per prescription. The prescriptions were filled out by Dr. Lewandowski in the name of the licensed doctor without his knowledge.

Also arrested were Robert Ruvolo, 40, of Walker Terrace in Middletown; Arthur Deeken, 32, of Chapin Avenue in Red Bank; Paul Boschi, 55, of Swartzel Drive in Middletown; and William Coffey, 33, of Leonardville Road in Leonardo, for purchasing the fraudulent prescriptions from Lewandowski and Menendez. Donna Phillips, 28, of Lane F in Hazlet, was also charged by the Holmdel Police Department as a result of the information developed during the investigation.
Ruvolo, Coffey, Boschi, Deeken and Phillips were all charged with third degree Obtaining a Controlled Dangerous Substance by Fraud and were all released pending a court date.

Convictions of third degree charges carry a sentence of three to five years in State Prison.