Metro Detroit Pharmacist Pleads Guilty In $5.6M Oxycodone Scheme: Feds

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, MI — A Dearborn Heights man is facing up to 20 years in prison for his role in a $5.6 million health care fraud scheme, according to federal officials.

Ali Naserdean pleaded guilty to one charge each of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and possession with intent to illegally distribute oxycodone.

He will be sentenced on Sept. 1.

Naserdean was a pharmacy technician at three metro Detroit pharmacies, officials said.

Between 2019 and 2022, officials said Naserdean and his co-conspirator submitted phony claims to health care benefit programs for the prescription drugs.

Officials said the claims were not ordered by a doctor and never dispensed to the patient.

Naserdean and his co-conspirator then sold the oxycodone to drug traffickers "without regard to whether the prescriptions were actually prescribed by physicians or dispensed in good faith," officials said.

They used forged prescriptions from doctors to hide the scheme, officials said.

The scheme cost Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan roughly $5.6 million in combined losses, officials said.