Illinois Physician Indicted on Federal Charges for Allegedly Illegally Dispensing Prescription Medications

CHICAGO—A LaSalle County physician was taken into federal custody this morning after being indicted on federal charges alleging that he illegally dispensed prescription narcotics to three patients in 2012 and 2013. The defendant, Dr. Constantino Perales, was charged with 17 counts of illegally dispensing oxycodone and/or alprazolam in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury on Wednesday and made public today.
Perales, 62, of Peru, Illinois, was expected to appear at 2 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier in federal court in Chicago. Perales has been in state custody on related charges, which were dismissed today by LaSalle County prosecutors. Perales’ Illinois medical license was suspended and he surrendered his DEA registration after federal and local authorities executed a search warrant at his office and he was arrested on state charges in August.
According to the indictment, Perales dispensed oxycodone and/or alprazolam outside the scope of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose to three different patients on 17 occasions between May 2012 and August 2013.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. If convicted, the court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The arrest and charge were announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert J. Shields, Jr., Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jack Riley, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration; Lamont Pugh, III, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General in Chicago; and the Peru Police Department.
The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lela Johnson.
An indictment contains merely charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Elmira Woman Indicted for Embezzling Workers’ Pension and Health Care Money

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury in Rochester has returned a three-count indictment charging Linda Riner, 62, of Elmira, New York, with embezzling money from Local Laborer’s 1358 employee pension and welfare benefit funds and lying to federal investigators about this matter. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Field, who is handling the case, stated that Riner was the funds administrator of the Local Laborer’s 1358 employee benefit plans and owed those plans a fiduciary duty. Instead of honoring that duty, the defendant took advantage of her position to pay herself and her staff thousands of dollars in “Christmas bonuses” without authorization. In addition, when interviewed by special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Labor about these bonuses, Riner sought to mislead investigators by claiming that the payments had been approved. In total, the defendant stole approximately $9,000 from the plans.
The indictment is the result of an investigation by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel, and the Department of Labor, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Robert Lapina.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.