Police

Troyan case prosecutors seek six-year sentence

Federal prosecutors are objecting to a U.S. Probation Department recommendation that a Riverhead physician assistant convicted of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone serve just two years in a federal prison, according to a letter filed Wednesday in the Eastern District of New York. 

U.S. Attorney Robert Capers is asking U.S. District Court Judge Denis Hurley to instead consider sentencing Michael Troyan to six years in prison. Mr. Troyan’s sentencing is scheduled for Friday.

“Troyan illegally prescribed oxycodone in exchange for cash, knowing that the pills would be sold to drug abusers over a four-year period,” Mr. Capers wrote in his strongly worded five-page letter to the judge. “As a physician assistant, Troyan was entrusted with prescription authority and he violated that trust in exchange for cash. That Troyan should receive a sentence half the length of his conspiracy and less than one-fifth of his advisory guideline range is inexplicable.”

An owner and physician assistant at East End Urgent and Primary Care in Riverhead, Mr. Troyan admitted at his change of plea hearing to running a scheme from November 2011 through October 2015 in which he illegally distributed thousands of prescription narcotic pills. Prosecutors said Mr. Troyan worked with approximately 20 others to whom he prescribed more than 60,000 oxycodone pills they resold on the streets before splitting cash profits with him.

To date, only former Southampton Town Councilman Bradley Bender, who is currently serving a two year prison sentence, has been publicly linked to the case by prosecutors.

In making the recommendation for a harsher sentence than the two years recommended by the probation department, Mr. Capers pointed to Mr. Bender’s similar sentence.

“Troyan, without whom the conspiracy could not have functioned, as he held the prescription authority, issued illegal prescriptions for 71,029 pills while Bender was involved in only 3,190 pills, all of which had been illegally prescribed by Troyan,” Mr. Capers wrote. “While Bender made approximately $5,000 total, Troyan reaped over $700,000 in profit.”

Mr. Troyan, who pleaded guilty in June, was previously ordered to forfeit $710,000 before his sentencing. Prosecutors have said they would likely file a judgement against Mr. Troyan to recover the bulk of that money through his assets.

In his letter, Mr. Capers said claims Mr. Troyan made that his “difficult upbringing and drug abuse” motivated his actions should not qualify him for a lighter sentence.

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