Metro

Pharmacist arrested for stealing $5.6M in painkillers

The former chief pharmacist at Beth Israel ​Hospital ​was arrested Tuesday ​in the theft of $5.6 million in painkillers that prosecutors believe ended up on the black market, authorities said.

Anthony D’Alessandro, who was the hospital’s pharmacy director for 14 years, was busted at his home ​o​n Staten Island.

He allegedly had stolen nearly 193,000 oxycodone pills from January 2009​​ until he was fired ​this past spring.

He swiped pills on 220 different occasions, prosecutors said.

D’Alessandro usually took about 100 at a time in the early days of the scheme, but had ramped it up to 1,500 a pop by the end, prosecutors said.

D’Alessandro, 47, was led into a Manhattan courtroom by two detectives, his hands cuffed behind him, wearing glasses, black T-shirt and gray exercise shorts.

“The astounding volume of narcotics in this case is consistent with a drug seller, not a drug user,” said Assistant Manhattan DA Ryan Sakacs.

“If the defendant consumed all these pills, we’d be at his funeral and not his arraignment.”

Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan’s office is still trying to trace where the pills landed, but investigators believe the narcotics ended up on the street.

“This case underscores the vigilance required when addictive medication with a high resale value is readily available — even to licensed professionals and trusted employees,” Brennan said.

D’Alessandro allegedly created a fake paper trail for the missing pills, by claiming they were sent to a research pharmacy within the First Avenue hospital.

The research pharmacy wasn’t doing any studies on oxycodone at the time, and staffers were not aware of the phony requisitions, authorities said.

He met with investigators on April 11 and came clean about the faux research project, prosecutors said.

D’Alessandro pleaded not guilty and he was held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

D’Alessandro, married with two kids, aged 14 and 12, has no incentive to jump bail, according to his defense.

Additional reporting by David K. Li