Federal judge dismisses fraud case against pharmacy chain, blasts prosecutors' actions

A federal judge has dismissed fraud charges against the owner of a local pharmacy chain, accusing prosecutors of failing to disclose evidence, presenting "significant" false testimony at trial and destroying evidence.

U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III called the actions of federal prosecutors improper and said they "shock the conscience of this court," according to transcripts of the hearing held last week, during which charges were dismissed against Reddy Annappareddy, the head of Pharmacare and Caremerica, a chain of pharmacies that operated in Maryland, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.

Annappareddy, 48, was charged in July 2013 with health care fraud and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors alleged that he defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers by submitting false claims for prescription refills that were neither requested by the customers nor received by them. The indictment also alleged that the insurers were not paid back when the customers did not receive the medications.

Annappareddy was convicted by a federal jury in December 2014. He then hired new lawyers, Mark Schamel and Joshua Greenberg of Washington, who successfully pressed for a new trial. He was scheduled to be retried later this month.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-fraud-case-dismissed-20160906-story.html#nt=oft12aH-1li3