Police

Third co-conspirator in Riverhead prescription drug ring pleads guilty

Federal court in Centrai Islip

A third co-conspirator has pleaded guilty in the prescription pill ring that previously led to the convictions of a local physician assistant and a Southampton Town Councilman.

Andrzej Pyclik, 37, of Hampton Bays entered a plea of guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone at a Feb. 14 court appearance in the Eastern District Court of New York, according to federal court records.

Last week, he agreed to a criminal forfeiture of $25,000 in relation to money he earned as part of the scheme.

In January, at the sentencing of fellow co-conspirator Michael Troyan, a physician assistant and owner of East End Urgent and Primary Care on East Main Street, prosecutors publicly named Mr. Pyclik for the first time, describing him as a street-level dealer who sold tens of thousands of prescription pills.

Prosecutor Allen Bode said Mr. Pyclik, who owns Hamptons View Landscaping in Hampton Bays, had agreed to cooperate with law enforcement and twice captured Mr. Troyan on video receiving cash after pills had been sold on the street.

Mr. Troyan admitted at a June 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 70,000 oxycodone pills they resold on the streets before splitting cash profits with him. He has been sentenced to five years in prison beginning in April.

Former Southampton Town Councilman Bradley Bender is currently serving a two-year prison sentence after also being linked to the case. He admitted to trading pain pills for cash and steroids. He resigned from the Town Board the morning of his arrest in Nov. 2015.

Mr. Pyclik will be sentenced at a later date.

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File photo: The Eastern District Court of New York in Central Islip. (Credit: Paul Squire)