Charge psychiatrist sold prescriptions

A Little Neck psychiatrist, looking to make money on the side, sold drug prescriptions for highly addictive medications to the wrong customer - an undercover police officer, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced Friday, September 8.
The defendant, Dr. Nehemia Zedek, 67, was arrested Thursday, September 7 at his medical office and residence, located at 43-16 Westmoreland Street in Little Neck. He was arraigned last night before Queens Criminal Court Judge Robert Raciti on charges of Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance, a Class C felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Zedek was released without bail and ordered to return to court on October 4, 2006.
The psychiatrist has been charged with selling drug prescriptions for highly addictive medications to an undercover police officer for cash. &#8220The defendant is accused to have flagrantly disregarded the law by using his medical practice as a front to enable individuals to obtain highly addictive drugs for cash,” Brown said. &#8220With no consideration for the health of the buyer or the medical necessity of the drugs, the defendant is alleged to have acted more like a street corner drug dealer armed with a prescription pad than a medical practitioner.”
Posing as a junkie, the undercover police officer visited Zedek’s office on various occasions between January 13, 2006 and June 22, 2006, according to the charges.
During those visits, the Little Neck resident allegedly sold prescriptions for the anti-anxiety drugs Alprazolam (Xanax) and Lorazepan (Ativan) and the painkiller Hydrocodone (Vicodin) - three highly powerful and addictive medications - to the officer. Zedek allegedly sold the officer 60 Xanax pills for $180 on at least three occasions, and on another occasion sold two prescriptions - one for 90 Xanax pills and the other for 90 Vicodin pills - for a total of $360.
The investigation was conducted by Detective Raymond Paltoo of the New York City Police Department's Queens Narcotics Division under the command of Inspector Robert Napolitano, and under the overall supervision of Assistant Deputy Chief Edmund Hartnett, Executive Officer, Narcotics Division, and Chief Anthony Izzo, Commanding Officer, Organized Crime Control Bureau.
Assistant District Attorney Paul E. Cardon, of the District Attorney’s Narcotics Investigations Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Wilbert J. Lemelle, Bureau Chief, and Karen J. Friedman, Deputy Bureau Chief, and Mark L. Katz, Supervisor, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney Linda M. Cantoni.