It’s important to have confidence as a business owner. If you present yourself as competent and knowledgeable, you will have a good chance at being successful as long as the product or service you are selling is legal and in high demand. An article posted on PostStar.com explains how a former gym owner, who was quite confident in his abilities to acquire and sell prescription drugs and steroids, got caught by undercover agents.
The story states that the former business owner ran an illegal side business at his work facility where he sold prescription pain killers and steroids. (Apparently, he frequently bragged that he was ”the man to see” about prescription painkillers and performance enhancing drugs.)
An official investigation was opened when an undercover officer asked the former gym owner if he should buy steroids from another trainer. (The owner volunteered to obtain the drugs.) The scam was well-documented through six videotaped and audio taped sales to additional undercover police officers, four prescription painkiller sales of 100 pills at a time and two additional steroid sales. (In one instance, the gym owner used a public assistance benefits card to pay for 100 painkillers before selling them to an undercover agent for $2,500.)
The 44-year-old former owner of the now defunct gym pleaded guilty to felony charges related to the criminal sale of a controlled substance, grand larceny for the sale of painkillers and welfare fraud. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and will spend three years on parole following his release. He has already paid $8,755 in restitution to reimburse for public assistance funds used during the investigation. He still owes an additional $999 to the New York State Police for their involvement.
This fraudster may not have been a large-scale drug dealer, but his decision to defraud the government and illegally sell drugs definitely impacted the community he served. Instead of influencing his customers to lead a more healthy life through his business, he sent the wrong message, and now his gym is no longer in high demand.
Source: Today’s ”Fraud of the Day” is based on an article titled, ”Former Gym Owner Gets 10-Year Sentence for Drug Sales, Welfare Fraud,” written by Don Lehman and posted on PostStar.com on April 24, 2015.
QUEENSBURY The former Glens Falls gym owner who sold prescription painkillers and steroids from his gym was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison after his lawyer and a prosecutor argued over the severity of his crimes.
Scott R. Rabine, 44, of Fort Edward, offered no statement Friday as Warren County Judge John Hall heard from counsel on both sides before imposing sentence.
