Doctor and wife who appeared on Below Deck are charged in prescription drugs plot after ‘stealing the identities of other cast members to write bogus scripts for oxycodone’
- Dr. Francis Martinis and his wife Jessica were arrested in May and charged with eight counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance and falsifying business records
- The couple is expected to appear in court in Riverhead, Long Island, on Thursday
- Officials told NBC New York that the handwritten prescription notes raised suspicion and led them to alert police
A couple who appeared on the reality show “Below Deck” are accused of stealing the identities of the show's cast members in a scheme to obtain prescription drugs.
Dr. Francis Martinis, 55, a Long Island urologist, and his wife, Jessica, were arrested in May and charged with eight counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance and falsifying business records, police told NBC New York.
The couple is expected to appear in court in Riverhead, Long Island, on Thursday.
The prescription drug scheme unfolded earlier this year, when Jessica, 38, was suspected of filling a fraudulent oxycodone prescription at a New York pharmacy.
Officials said the handwritten prescription notes raised suspicion and prompted them to alert police.
Dr. Francis Martinis, 55, a Long Island urologist, and his wife, Jessica, arrive at the Suffolk County Criminal Court on Thursday
The prescription drug scheme unfolded earlier this year, when Jessica, 38, was suspected of filling a fraudulent oxycodone prescription at a New York pharmacy.
Dr. Francis Martinis, 55, a Long Island urologist, and his wife, Jessica, were arrested in May and charged with eight counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance and falsifying business records
The couple is expected to appear in court in Riverhead, Long Island, on Thursday
The investigation then uncovered more than a dozen oxycodone prescriptions sent by Martini's over a two-year period, many of which were allegedly fake and written under different names of the cast of the Bravo hit show.
Jessica would pick up the prescriptions at the pharmacy and pay in cash, officials told NBC New York.
It is unclear whether the couple used or sold the drugs.
Former New York Homeland Security Director Michael Balboni explained the seriousness of these allegations to NBC New York.
“He abused the celebrity position he had on that ship to discover the identities of his crew members – if proven – and then use them to buy drugs, which is a common scheme for a common criminal,” said him to the newspaper. exhaust pipe.
Jessica would pick up the prescriptions at the pharmacy and pay in cash
The investigation subsequently uncovered more than a dozen oxycodone prescriptions sent by Martini's over a two-year period, many of which were allegedly fake and written under different names of the Bravo hit show's cast members.
It is unclear whether the couple used or sold the drugs
Martinis and his wife appeared on 'Below Deck Mediterranean' where they were members of a group that chartered a luxury yacht Sirocco that set sail on the French Riviera in 2019
“Prosecutors will want to send a message to all other doctors: you have special access to these drugs, you know how they work and if you do this you will be prosecuted,” Balboni added.
Martinis and his wife appeared on “Below Deck Mediterranean,” where they were members of a group that chartered a luxury yacht Sirocco that set sail on the French Riviera in 2019.
The Doctor also appeared in a Below Deck spin-off, 'Below Deck Sailing Yacht.'