2007-03-29 23:46:00 -
BOSTON, March 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Marlboro man was convicted today by a jury after a seven day trial on charges of conspiring to obtain controlled substances by fraud and related charges. His wife had previously pleaded guilty to the charges relating to her role in the scheme.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Mark Dragonetti, Resident Agent in Charge of the Office of Criminal Investigations for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; and Massachusetts State Auditor A. Joseph DeNucci, announced that MAXIMANO SILVA, age 33, of Marlboro, Massachusetts,
was convicted by a jury sitting before U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris on twenty-two of twenty-four counts in the indictment against him. Last week, on March 19, 2007, his wife, CRYSTAL SILVA, 32, also of Marlboro, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to the four counts in the indictment against her.
Specifically, MAXIMANO SILVA was found guilty of 2 counts of Conspiring to Obtain Controlled Substances by Fraud, as well as 12 counts of Obtaining Controlled Substances by Subterfuge. MAXIMANO SILVA was also found guilty of 3 counts of Health Care Fraud, 2 counts of identity theft and 3 counts of aggravated identity theft. He was acquitted on one count of Obtaining Controlled Substances by Fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
CRYSTAL SILVA pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiring to Obtain Controlled Substances by Fraud and 3 counts of Obtaining Controlled Substances by Subterfuge.
Evidence presented during the trial proved that MAXIMANO SILVA forged numerous prescriptions to obtain pain medications such as Oxycontin, Percocet, Roxicet and Klonopin, drugs which are widely abused. He was aided in this by CRYSTAL SILVA and others.
In creating and passing the forged prescriptions, MAXIMANO SILVA used the names of persons without lawful authority, such as patients and the prescribing doctors, in violation of federal identity theft law.
Sentencing for both MAXIMANO SILVA and CRYSTAL SILVA is set for June 20, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. The maximum sentence for each of the Conspiring to Obtain Controlled Substances by Fraud and the Obtaining Controlled Substances by Subterfuge charges is 4 years in prison; 10 years in prison on each of the Healthcare Fraud charges; 20 years in prison on each of the Identity Theft charges; and 2 years in prison to be served consecutive to any other prison term imposed on each of the Aggravated Identity Theft charges.
The investigation leading to the Indictment was conducted by the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations, the Hudson Police Department and the Massachusetts State Auditor's Bureau of Special Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Kanwit in Sullivan's Major Crimes Unit, and formerly of the Health Care Fraud Unit.
Source: U.S. Attorney
