CAMDEN — A status conference for the seven South Jersey co-defendants who have pleaded not guilty in an ongoing $50 million health benefits fraud scheme was held via telephone last week.
Attorneys for Northfield residents William Hickman, 42, a pharmaceutical sales representative, his wife, Sara, 42, a former teacher, and five others participated in a status conference via phone Friday, court records show.
Judiciary officials in March entered an order allowing some court hearings to be conducted virtually due to the spread of COVID-19.
Court records show a 10-minute telephonic status conference was held, but did not include details of the proceedings.
There is no date scheduled for the next hearing, according to court records, but the trial is slated to begin Sept. 21 before Judge Robert B. Kugler in U.S. District Court, with jury selection beginning Aug. 24.
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Prosecutors say the Hickmans were major figures in a local criminal organization, cheating taxpayer-funded public workers’ health insurance programs in a massive prescription fraud scheme that ran from January 2015 to April 2016. Public employees, including teachers, firefighters and municipal police officers, were recruited to obtain medically unnecessary prescriptions, netting kickbacks for the conspirators, court documents show.
Five others who have pleaded not guilty are:
Brian Pugh, 41, of Absecon, co-owner of Tony’s Baltimore Grill and owner of BP Med 1 LLC
Thomas Schallus, 42, a Ventnor police officer who was allegedly recruited by Pugh
Christopher Broccoli, 47, of West Deptford, Gloucester County, a Camden firefighter
Thomas Sher, 46, of Northfield, and John Sher, 37, of Margate. Both men are Margate firefighters and were allegedly recruited by their brother Michael Sher, another Margate firefighter. Michael Sher has pleaded guilty in the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney R. David Walk Jr. represents the state in the case.
Sentencings for the more than two dozen people who have pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme have been scheduled for June before Kugler, court records show.
