Delco Pharmacist Traded Drugs For Sex: Authorities

Media PA

01 November, 2021

3:14 PM

Description

MEDIA, PA — A Delaware County-based pharmacist has been accused of trading drugs such as fentanyl and oxycodone for sexual favors, authorities said. Martin Brian, 81, owner and operator of the Murray-Overhill Pharmacy on State Street in Media has been charged with multiple counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, distribution of a controlled substance to a drug-dependent person, the dispensing of a controlled substance in a manner inconsistent with the rules of the medical profession, the criminal use of a communication facility, and sexual extortion, all felonies. According to Delaware County authorities, Brian traded drugs for sexual favors with at least two women. The charges stem from an investigation that launched based on an anonymous tip provided to Media Police on Sunday, April 18. Police sent officers to check on two unconscious people in a vehicle parked at the rear of Brian's pharmacy. The pharmacy stopped doing business in June. While at the vehicle, officers saw a woman come out of the pharmacy, but she fled back into the store when she saw them, authorities said. Brian came out of the business and asked the officers if "everything was all right." Upon separate questioning, inconsistencies emerged in the accounts given by the woman and by Brian, authorities said. Police seized the woman's phone and got a search warrant for its contents, which showed numerous text messages between her and Brian, in which Brian told her how to respond to the officers' questions. This prompted an audit of the pharmacy by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on April 20, analyzing the pharmacy's inventory from 2016 to 2021. This showed substantial discrepancies in the pharmacy's inventory of oxycodone, Xanax, and fentanyl, authorities said. The pharmacy's practices were also reviewed against the DEA's database, which allows the DEA to compare the quantity and types of purchases that a pharmacy is making and compare those purchases to other pharmacies. According to authorities, the comparison revealed that the Murray-Overhill Pharmacy was the largest purchaser of oxycodone, fentanyl, and related drug products, in the 19063 zip code. On April 26, DEA agents interviewed the aforementioned woman, during which she admitted she had been meeting Brian weekly to exchange sex acts for money and for controlled substances, authorities said. Investigators subsequently obtained a search warrant for the defendant's residence and the pharmacy, as well as for the defendant's electronic devices. Among other things, investigators discovered approximately $50,000 in cash in a drawer in the pharmacy, authorities said. Further investigation led to a second woman who admitted to investigators that she had been exchanging sexual favors for drugs with Brian multiple times a week, and that she could not even count the number of bottles of oxycodone that she had received, according to authorities. She told investigators that she later sold the oxycodone received from Brian for heroin, authorities said. "An octogenarian pharmacist – whose profession is dedicated to serving the health needs of the community with honesty and integrity – traded drugs for sexual favors," Stollsteimer said. "In doing so, he allowed his need for sexual gratification to override any sense of personal or professional responsibility to the community. His actions risked the life of every individual receiving these illicitly obtained drugs. While hardworking pharmacists all over Delaware County are making the overdose- reversing medication Narcan available, this defendant chose instead to actively contribute to the scourge of addiction that families in our County grapple with every day." Brian turned himself in to authorities on Monday and had bail set at $250,000, unsecured. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 17.