... former Jersey City Little League coach...admitted to distributing OxyContin...within 1,000 feet of a school...

When informed that a Jersey Journal photographer would be photographing the sentencing, anger flared in Bremner who shook his head and rocked side to side while standing behind the defense table with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Former Jersey City coach pleads guilty to illegally distributing pain killers

By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
April 01, 2010, 3:38PM

A former Jersey City Little League coach was sentenced to six years in prison today as the first of 15 people who have pleaded guilty in a probe into a Hudson County pain killer distribution ring that led to 32 arrests, including doctors and pharmacists.

"He worked with children and I applaud that, but on the other side, he was a role model for children and he was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Deputy Attorney General Debra Conrad said at the sentencing of Raymond Bremner, 42, of Laidlaw Avenue, this morning. "That is not a role model we want our children to look up to."

On Feb. 8, Bremner admitted to distributing OxyContin May 14, Oct. 13 and Oct. 12. All three crimes were within 1,000 feet of a school and in October he was within 500 feet of Sergeant Anthony Park on Palisade Avenue.

The October incidents occurred while he was out on a $50,000 bail following his first arrest, Conrad said at today's hearing before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Kevin G. Callahan.

When informed that a Jersey Journal photographer would be photographing the sentencing, anger flared in Bremner who shook his head and rocked side to side while standing behind the defense table with his hands cuffed behind his back.

The judge quickly scolded him saying, "I did not put you where you are. You put in motion the events leading to this day."

Defense Attorney Alfonso Robinson said Bremner has been involved in baseball most of his life, playing in his youth and coaching afterward. He said he often took children to Yankee games at his own expense. The attorney said Bremner's use of pain killers began out of medical need but became an addition.

"Unfortunately he just could not get the monkey off his back," Robinson said of his client who must serve 33 months before becoming eligible for parole.

Prior to meting out the sentence, Callahan asked Bremner if he wanted to say anything and although Bremner said he did, all he managed was "I can't find the words..."

The judge wondered aloud at why Bremner would throw away decades of good work with children at a time when he could begin to see the fruits of his work in the successful lives of his grownup players.

"Why do they have to see you now in handcuffs?" Callahan asked him.

Former Jersey City baseball coach is charged in illegal drug ring

By The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk
October 22, 2009, 9:02AM

JERSEY CITY -- A former boys baseball coach was charged in an illegal prescription drug distribution ring, the 14th charged in the sting, a report in the Jersey Journal said.

Raymond Bremner, 42, of Laidlaw Avenue, was arrested Wednesday with two counts of third-degree manufacturing, distributing or dispensing a controlled dangerous substance, specifically OxyContin and Xanax, a prescription anxiety pill; and second-degree charges of distributing CDS within 500 feet of a public park and within 1,000 feet of a school, according to the report. Authorities had already arrested 13 people, including a West Orange doctor, in connection with an alleged narcotics network that illegally distributed prescription painkillers, officials said Tuesday.

Bremner coached 10-to 12-year-old boys and 13-to 15-year-old boys in two different leagues, the report said.

2 doctors, 11 others charged with distributing prescription painkillers

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Chris Megerian
STATEHOUSE

Authorities have arrested 13 people, including 2 doctors, in connection with an alleged narcotics network that illegally distributed prescription painkillers, officials said yesterday.

Officials said a yearlong investigation revealed the defendants were obtaining fraudulent prescriptions and filling them at pharmacies in Hudson County, billing Medicaid and private insurers for the drugs, which included OxyContin and Percocet.

"These defendants ripped off Medicaid and sold dangerous narcotics on the street, peddling black market pain pills such as OxyContin," Attorney General Anne Milgram said in a statement. "With these arrests, we have shut down their two-pronged criminal enterprise."

During the operation, authorities seized more than $1 million in various bank accounts, $35,000 cash, fraudulent prescriptions and more than 1,000 pills.

Officials accused three men -- Robert Silverman, 43, of Jersey City; Louis Lisi, 34, of Union City; and Brian Kelly, 48, of Hoboken -- of leading the operation. All three were charged with drug distribution.

According to officials, Medicaid beneficiaries were paid by the leaders to receive fake prescriptions from two doctors: Clifton Howell, 53, of West Orange, and Magdy Elamir, 56, of North Saddle Brook. Both doctors were arrested and charged with drug distribution, health care claims fraud and Medicaid fraud.

The drugs then were obtained from Tucker Drugs in Hoboken and Five Corners Pharmacy in Jersey City. The pharmacists at both stores Babak Bamdad, 41, and Amir Tadros, 32, were arrested.

Another six people were accused distributing the drugs: Joseph Burkhardt, 50, of Jersey City; Michele J. Oliver, 41, of Wallington; John Bussanich, 23, of Cliffside Park; Danny Reed, 25, of Toms River; Marty Taraboccia, 25 of Fairview; and Jack Kennedy, 28, of Keyport.

Officials said the dealers sold 30 milligram OxyContin pills for $10 to $20. Ten milligram Percocet pills fetched $5 to $8.

They said more arrests are expected.

Legal representation for the defendants either could not be reached or determined yesterday.

Chris Megerian may be reached at (609) 989-0208 or cmegerian@starledger.com.