March 30, 2010
Contact: Special Agent Douglas S. Collier, M.A.
Number: (973) 776-1143
Montclair Man Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison for Illegally Prescribing Drugs Over the Internet
MAR 30  -- (
NEWARK) - Stephen Ancier, a Montclair, New Jersey man, was sentenced today to the statutory maximum of 60 months in federal prison for illegally prescribing hundreds of thousands of doses of prescription drugs over the Internet, in exchange for approximately $1.5 million dollars, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman and Drug Enforcement Administration, New Jersey Division, Acting Special Agent in Charge John G. McCabe, Jr. announced.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh ordered Ancier, 
63, to serve three years of supervised release, to forfeit $465,955 to the United States as the 
proceeds derived from the drug offense, and to pay a $7,500 fine.
On March 5, 2009, Ancier pleaded guilty in Northern District of Iowa federal court to one count 
of conspiracy to dispense controlled substances. Pursuant to an agreement between Ancier, the 
U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the 
District of New Jersey, Ancier was returned to his home state of New Jersey for sentencing.
According to the Indictment to which Ancier pleaded guilty, other documents filed in this case, 
and statements made in court:
Between early 2002 and continuing through at least February 2004, Ancier, then a physician, 
reached an agreement with others to dispense and caused to be dispensed Schedule III and 
Schedule IV controlled substances outside the usual course of medical practice and without a 
legitimate medical purpose.
Controlled substances were ordered by Internet pharmacy customers who logged onto various 
websites and prepaid for the drugs with credit or debit cards. After payment was verified, the 
controlled substance orders were sent to physicians, including Ancier, for review. The 
physicians would authorize the controlled substances and would attach an electronic signature. 
Pharmacies throughout the United States would then fill the prescriptions.
The customers would obtain the controlled substances over the Internet without ever seeing a 
doctor, using whatever name they chose. Customers would answer a questionnaire regarding the 
drug they sought to obtain, and in some instances, default answers were provided so that the 
customer could get whatever drug they wanted. The physician authorizing the prescription 
would not produce an original prescription in any form. Instead, the web server company would 
create a document which appeared to be a prescription. The downloaded "prescriptions" were 
not lawful prescriptions under federal law.
Ancier, in his capacity as a physician, illegally authorized the prescription of hundreds of 
thousands of dosage units of controlled substances. In exchange, he received well over $1.5 
million dollars. Ancier never physically examined any customer for whom he authorized 
controlled substance prescriptions. He did not review or maintain medical records, nor have any 
telephonic, facsimile, or e-mail contact with the customers for whom he prescribed controlled 
substances. Ancier did not have a legitimate medical relationship with any of the Internet 
customers, nor was the Ancier's prescribing for the Internet customers done in the usual course 
of business.
Ancier, who was previously released on bail after being initially arraigned on the federal 
charges, had his bail revoked by United States Magistrate Judge Jon S. Scoles in the Northern 
District of Iowa following his arrest in New Jersey on October 21, 2008, for possession of 
heroin, cocaine and hypodermic syringes.
In determining the actual sentence, Judge Cavanaugh consulted the advisory United States 
Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the 
severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other 
factors. The Judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.
Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must 
serve nearly all the time.
U.S. Attorney Fishman thanked the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa. He 
also credited Special Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New Jersey Division, 
under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge John G. McCabe, Jr. 
This case was prosecuted in the Northern District of Iowa by Assistant United States Attorneys 
Stephanie M. Rose, Patrick J. Reinert, and Matthew J. Cole, and the asset forfeiture work was 
handled by AUSA Marty McLaughlin and Paralegal Specialist Brenda Nietert. The case 
was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force program of the 
United States Department of Justice through the cooperative efforts of the: Drug Enforcement 
Administration (DEA) Office of Diversion Control; Dubuque Drug Task Force, consisting of 
members of the Dubuque County Sheriff's Office, Dubuque Police Department, and Dubuque 
County Attorney's Office; Cedar Rapids DEA Drug Task Force, consisting of members of the
 DEA, Benton County Sheriff's Office, Iowa City Police Department, Linn County Sheriff's 
Office, Cedar Rapids Police Department, Marion Police Department, and Iowa Division of 
Narcotics Enforcement; Des Moines DEA Drug Task Force, consisting of members of the DEA, 
Polk County Sheriff's Office, Des Moines Police Department, Altoona Police Department, 
Urbandale Police Department, West Des Moines Police Department, Windsor Heights Police 
Department, and Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; Internal Revenue Service - Criminal 
Investigation; United States Postal Inspection Service; and U.S. Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement.
The Government is represented in New Jersey by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Carey of the 
U.S. Attorney's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Division in Newark.