Detectives from the Middletown Township Police Department working with investigators from this Office and the state Division of Consumer Affairs have dismantled a prescription drug ring run by a suspended physician Thursday night following a monthlong investigation, announced Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
Six people were arrested for their respective roles in a prescription drug ring, including Dr. Kenneth Lewandowski, 51, of 35 Tatum Dr. in Middletown, who is charged with six counts of third degree Conspiracy, six counts of third degree Forgery and the Unlawful Practice of Medicine – a third degree crime.
Lewandowski is being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold Township, on $140,000 bail, as set by Middletown Municipal Court Judge Richard Thompson.

A search warrant was executed Wednesday on Lewandowski’s Middletown residence following the monthlong investigation prompted by a tip from a local pharmacy reporting a subject presented a fraudulent prescription attempting to obtain Oxycodone on November 24, 2014.
“Investigations like this are important in our fight against prescription drug abuse and fighting the heroin epidemic,” Gramiccioni said. “Prescription opiates like Oxycodone are a familiar path on the highway of drug abuse – and it usually leads straight to heroin addiction. Doctors are sworn to properly care for people and make them better not to feed the addictions of those enslaved by prescription opiates and heroin.”
Middletown Township Detectives Daniel Sullivan and Keith Hirschbein conducted the initial
investigation which resulted in information being developed implicating numerous patients, as well as Dr. Lewandowski and Thomas Menendez acting as his business partner being involved in the unlawful distribution of fraudulent prescriptions for Oxycodone.
“Drug addiction is a menace to our society. The Middletown Police Department remains firmly committed to working closely with our law enforcement partners to apprehend and prosecute anyone involved in illegal drug sales. This case is a great example of how law enforcement is working together to address this deadly issue,” said Middletown Police Chief R. Craig Weber.

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