A Scarborough man who ran a drug distribution ring with a Portland podiatrist who wrote illegal prescriptions in exchange for cash and cocaine was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison.

Adam Goodwin, 39, pleaded guilty in July to federal charges of health care fraud and conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone.

Goodwin was sentenced Tuesday by Judge George Singal in U.S. District Court in Portland. He will serve three years of supervised release after his prison term.

Neal Laverriere, 32, of Biddeford pleaded guilty to the same charges in July. He was sentenced to serve just over three years in federal prison.

Goodwin and Laverriere conspired with the podiatrist, John Perry, to obtain oxycodone prescriptions fraudulently and distribute the pills in southern Maine. Perry, 52, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced in June to serve eight years in prison.

Perry was a licensed podiatrist until 2011, and owned Atlantic Foot and Ankle in Portland until December 2010.

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In 2009 and 2010, he was responsible for the illegal distribution of more than 18,000 oxycodone pills, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Federal prosecutors said in a court filing that they would have presented evidence at trial that Perry prescribed oxycodone and other drugs without any medical purpose in the names of patients he never treated.

In exchange, Perry received money or cocaine for his own use, court records show.

Prosecutors said Perry prescribed oxycodone pills to drug traffickers in Connecticut whose names were given to him by Goodwin.

Laverriere filled most of the prescriptions himself at pharmacies in southern Maine and sold the pills to an unnamed buyer for cash, according to court records.

Some of the drug profits were used by a business group that included Goodwin to finance a failed strip club in Westbrook called Dreamers Cabaret, according to court records.

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Prosecutors say Perry’s fraudulent prescriptions caused MaineCare and Medicare funds to be spent for controlled substances that he knew were not medically necessary.

Scott Dolan can be contacted at 791-6304 or at:

sdolan@pressherald.com

Twitter: @scottddolan


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