A former doctor from Valley Stream was sentenced Friday to more than four years in federal prison for illegally prescribing the addictive painkiller oxycodone in exchange for cash to patients who were addicted to the pills.
Noel Blackman had pleaded guilty to illegally distributing prescription painkillers last year at Central Islip federal court.
“Blackman violated his professional oath to put his patients’ legitimate medical needs first, and instead chose to line his pockets with the proceeds of sales from oxycodone, which has ravaged communities in New York City and on Long Island,” said Bridget M. Rohde, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Prosecutors said Blackman prescribed more than 365,000 30-milligram oxycodone pills from “pain management” clinics that he worked out of in Franklin Square, Queens and Brooklyn between 2015 and last year.
He wrote oxycodone prescriptions for 1,920 30 milligram oxycodone pills to persons whom he knew had no legitimate medical need in exchange for $300 cash, he admitted in court. That amount of oxycodone had a street value of up to $57,600, authorities said.
Blackman, who was the former Health Minister of Guyana and Executive Member of the World Health Organization, had more than $30,000 in cash when he was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Judge Joanna Seybert also sentenced him to three years of supervised release and ordered Blackman to forfeit $536,200 in illegal proceeds. He previously forefeited his medical license and will no longer be allowed to practice medicine in the United States.
