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Doctor and ex-lifeguard among 18 snared in Shore drug bust

The arrests are not connected to an FBI investigation of prescription fraud allegedly involving firefighters and other municipal employees in several Shore towns, according to the Attorney General's Office.

New Jersey Attorney General Chris Porrino announces the arrests of an Essex County doctor and 17 alleged members of a drug ring
New Jersey Attorney General Chris Porrino announces the arrests of an Essex County doctor and 17 alleged members of a drug ringRead moreMICHAEL BURKE / Staff

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County doctor and 17 alleged members of an Atlantic County drug ring – including a well-known former Margate lifeguard fired last year for shoplifting at a Wawa store – have been arrested for selling tens of thousands of pills that the doctor prescribed to them, authorities said.

Craig Gialanella, 53, of North Caldwell, an internist in private practice, was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree distribution of narcotics, New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino announced Wednesday. Gialanella is accused of prescribing the opioid painkiller oxycodone as well as alprazolam, an antianxiety drug also known as Xanax.

Among those charged is former Margate firefighter and beach patrol member Ashton Funk, a perennial rowing champ for the Shore town in the summer lifeguard races. Funk, 35, of Northfield, lost both jobs last year after shoplifting $7.98 worth of items at the Wawa, including a bag of sunflower seeds and a Gatorade. Funk maintained that the incident was a misunderstanding.

The arrests are not connected to a separate federal investigation of prescription fraud allegedly involving firefighters and other municipal employees in several Shore towns, according to the Attorney General's Office.

At least one of the others named in the state probe, Ted Gogol, 37, is a Margate firefighter, Mayor Mike Becker said.

Becker also said he did not believe the attorney general's drug bust was related to the FBI probe, which has brought subpoenas to Margate, Ventnor, and Atlantic City.

"This is an opiate investigation from Essex County," Becker said. "The other is a federal fraud investigation."

Most of the alleged members of the drug ring have been charged with either second- or third-degree distribution of narcotics or conspiracy to distribute narcotics. Three are accused of leading the drug ring: Mary Connolly, 54; Lauren Connolly, 28; and Douglas Patterson, 53, all of Egg Harbor Township. Patterson is Mary Connolly's former husband and Lauren Connolly is Mary Connolly's daughter.

Authorities believe Patterson at one point lived near Gialanella, possibly sparking the relationship between the two, though Porrino said he "can't speak specifically as to how they initially got together."

Patterson introduced Mary Connolly and others to Gialanella, authorities said.

The arrests stemmed from an investigation by the Attorney General's Prescription Fraud Investigation Strike Team. The investigation began in December after an Atlantic County pharmacist reported that Patterson and others were obtaining large quantities of opiates from Gialanella, authorities said.

Gialanella allegedly charged the defendants $50 to $100 for "office visits," and would prescribe 90 to 180 tablets of oxycodone and 90 alprazolam tablets. Authorities said the doctor would write from  two to five prescriptions for each drug to a single patient every 30 days.

Authorities said Gialanella prescribed more than 350,000 oxycodone pills between January 2014 and May 2017, though it was not clear exactly how many were illegally prescribed.

Gialanella is the sixth doctor since 2014 that the Prescription Fraud Investigation Strike Team has charged with illegally distributing opiates. The number of pills prescribed by Gialanella was "on the high end" compared with the other doctors charged, authorities said.

"We are not going to tolerate drug dealers in white coats," Porrino said.

The Attorney General's Office also said Wednesday that 1,022 people died from drug overdoses in the state in the first six months of 2016, primarily from opiates. Of those deaths, 594 involved heroin, 394 involved fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, and 177 involved oxycodone. Total drug overdoses were up 41 percent compared with the first six months of 2015.

The investigation into Gialanella is continuing, as he is suspected of illegally prescribing oxycodone to individuals in other counties, according to authorities. His medical license has been suspended.

"We will continue our work on this front and many other fronts in response to this crisis," Porrino said.

The others charged are: Danielle Grainger, 33, of Linwood; William Warren, 51, of Egg Harbor Township; Francis Clemson, 53, of Ocean View; Beatriz Oquendo, 34, of Pleasantville; Amanda Blomdahl, 37, of Somers Point; Kevin Reid, 47, of Ventnor; David Blocker, 49, of Galloway; Joseph Green, 39, of Atlantic City; Christopher Perez, 34, of Mays Landing; John Hager, 39, of Deptford; and two of Mary Connolly's sons,  Robert, 31, and Michael Jr., 33, both of Galloway.