The Latest: Victims want harshest penalty for pharmacy head

BOSTON – The Latest on the sentencing for a pharmacy co-founder convicted in a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak (all times local):

4:40 p.m.

A dozen victims who were sickened or lost loved ones have asked a Massachusetts judge to give a pharmacy co-founder the harshest penalty allowed under the law for a deadly 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak.

Barry Cadden is to be sentenced Monday on racketeering and fraud charges in a fungal meningitis outbreak that killed 76 people and sickened more than 700 others. He was the co-founder and president of the New England Compounding Center.

During Cadden’s trial, prosecutors said he shipped out drugs knowing there were unsanitary conditions in the room where the drugs were made.

Victims told stories of shattered lives and unbearable loss caused by the tainted steroids made by Cadden’s company.

Prosecutors are seeking a 35-year sentence. Cadden’s lawyer says he should get 2 1/2 to 3 years.

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3:50 p.m.

A Michigan woman whose husband died after receiving a contaminated steroid shot has told a judge that the co-founder of the pharmacy that made the drugs destroyed her family.

Barry Cadden is to be sentenced Monday on racketeering and fraud charges in connection with a 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak that killed 76 people and sickened more than 700 others. He was the co-founder and president of the New England Compounding Center.

During Cadden’s trial, prosecutors said he shipped out drugs knowing there were unsanitary conditions in the room where the drugs were made.

Penny Laperriere asked, “Who gave him the right to play God?”

She said her husband, Lyn, got the steroid shot to try to get relief from his back pain. He died in 2012.

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2:40 p.m.

A Massachusetts prosecutor has told a judge that a compounding pharmacy that caused the deaths of 76 people through contaminated medical steroids was “a massive reckless and fraudulent organization.”

The description came during a sentencing hearing for 50-year-old Barry Cadden, the co-founder of the New England Compounding Center. Prosecutors say Cadden ran the centre in a dangerous way by skirting industry regulations on sterility in an effort to push production and make more money.

Cadden was acquitted of second-degree murder charges under federal racketeering law, but convicted on conspiracy and fraud charges.

Prosecutors are asking the judge to sentence Cadden to 35 years in prison.

A prosecutor says 20 victims who were sickened and relatives of people who died will give victim impact statements before Cadden is sentenced Monday.

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12:20 a.m.

The co-founder of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy is set to be sentenced in a deadly nationwide meningitis outbreak that killed more than 60 people and sickened hundreds more.

Barry Cadden was acquitted of second-degree murder charges under federal racketeering law, but convicted on conspiracy and fraud charges. Sentencing is scheduled for Monday in federal court in Boston.

Cadden was charged in connection with a 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak that was traced to contaminated injections of medical steroids made by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham.

Prosecutors say Cadden ran the centre in a dangerous way by skirting industry regulations on sterility in an effort to push production and make more money.

Prosecutors will ask the judge to sentence him to 35 years in prison. Cadden’s lawyer says he should get 2 1/2 to 3 years.