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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 26 – More than a year ago Doctor Dante A. Cubangang and three others including his receptionist Loren Piquant a/k/a Loren Luna and John Gargan were indicted for illegally selling some six million Oxycodone pills, or 180 kilos of Oxy.

    On October 9, 2019, a week before receptionist Loren Piquant / Luna went on trial before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul G. Gardephe, her boss Dante Cubangbang pled guilty.

 Now on August 26, initial co-defendant and fast cooperator Porfilio Lugo was sentenced. The US Attorney's Office gave him a 5K1.1 letter and emphasized how fast he has flipped, after re-selling oxy pills.

  His lawyer said he was punched in the face in "rough and tumble" MLK High School. Judge Gardephe agreed on the time served, but added three years of supervised release.

    After the short and murky 2019 plea proceeding, Inner City Press asked Cubangbang's lawyer if the plea deal specified a sentencing guideline that the government will recommend. No, he answered.

    Inner City Press asked him, "Does the letter mention Section 5K1?"

     "No comment," he said and got on the elevator.

   5K1 is the section of the sentencing guidelines which can erase "mandatory" minimum sentences for cooperates like, in the last month, Daniel Hernandez a/k/a Tekashi 6ix9ine and, in the trial against Honduras' president's brother Juan Antonio Hernandez, former mayor Alex Ardon who confessed to killing 56 people.

   How many people did Cubangbang's six million Oxy pills kill? And who is more responsible, this doctor or his receptionist?

 It ends not with a Cubangbang but with a whimper: "JURY VERDICT as to John F. Gargan (2) Guilty on Count 1 and Loren Piquant (4) Guilty on Count 1. (lnl)." Then on October 25, two days after the verdict, this: "Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JOHN F. GARGAN and LOREN PIQUANT were convicted Wednesday after a two-week jury trial for conspiring together and with others to unlawfully distribute oxycodone from a medical clinic in Queens, New York.  DANTE A. CUBANGBANG and MICHAEL KELLERMAN previously pled guilty to narcotics, health care fraud, and money laundering charges in connection with their participation in the oxycodone distribution scheme at that same clinic.  From 2012 to 2018, CUBANGBANG, a physician, and GARGAN, a nurse practitioner, prescribed over 6.3 million oxycodone 30-milligram pills to individuals they knew did not need the oxycodone for any legitimate medical reason.  The vast majority of these pills were diverted and sold to others on the street.                  U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “These health professionals should have been the first line of defense against opioid abuse, but instead they were drug dealers operating out of a medical clinic.  They hid behind their medical licenses and positions within the clinic to sell addictive, dangerous narcotics.  This Office will do everything in its power to bring to justice anyone responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has taken so many lives.”

 What was not said is that Cubangbang was given a deal, despite having rubbed himself against another of the Office's cooperating witnesses...

 On October 21 in Courtroom 110 of 40 Foley Square the government's cooperating witness Ms. Reyes with a non prosecution agreement despite selling over $80,000 of Oxy describes a series of indignities. To be found to be using the Oxy she bought, she brought to the test her purchaser's urine in a Scope bottle tucked into her bra.

  In one visit, the government's cooperating witness for a 5K1 letter Doctor Cubangbang rubbed his genitals against her hand. Then after arrest she was wired up by the government to try to set up the receptionist, in conversation with whom the word pill was never used. We are requesting the exbibits. We'll have more on this.

  Inner City Press previously reported this, from the Federal Defenders for John Gargan, on Cubangbang and sexual abuse of a patient and, it seems to us, further unaccountable abuse of the 5K1 process: "We write in response to the Government's letter of October 18, 2019. The letter sets out a chronology of events regarding Dr. Cubangbang and the time the government first learned from one of its witnesses that Dr. Cubangbang had committed a criminal sexual act during a medical examination of that witness. We have just been told by Dr. Cubangbang's lawyer that it his present intention to advise his client to testify if called by the defense. Counsel also stated that he would speak to his client tomorrow morning and advise if there was any change in this position. The government has told us that Dr. Cubangbang's cooperation agreement is still operative. Assuming that Dr. Cubangbang does testify, we do not have any other application. If he becomes unavailable for any reason, we will address the issue. We are troubled that the government's letter seriously misstates the facts regarding the government's intentions to call Dr. Cubangbang as a witness in its case in chief. The government's letter states that when it first produced Dr. Cubangbang's 3500 material to the defense on October 9, 2019, "the Government was not planning at that point, to call Cubangbang as a witness in its case in chief at trial in this matter." Gov't Letter (GL) of October 18, 2019, page 1. The government further asserts that after it met with Cubangbang on October 13, the Government "continued to believe that it would not call Cubangbang as a witness in its direct case." Finally, the government states that on October 15th, the first day of trial, the "Government informed the defense and the Court that it did not intend to call Cubangbang." But, that is not at all what the government told the defense and the Court. At the close of business on October 15th, the Court asked "what's the government's intentions with respect to Dr. Cubangbang and Mr. Kellerman?" Trial Transcript (TT) at 51. Mr. Krouse responded: Your Honor, the government continues to assess whether to call either of Case 1:18-cr-00723-PGG Document 111 Filed 10/20/19 Page 1 of 2 those two witnesses. I believe my colleague informed defense counsel of that fact, that we haven't made a final decision as to either of them. TT 51-52. The Court then asked the government whether it had a sense of when it would decide whether Mr. Kellerman or Dr. Cubangbang would be called as a witness. The government responded that "I think we would know by some point tomorrow whether we intend to call them." TT 52-53. The government's letter also states that after the trial day on October 15th, the government met with Dr. Cubangbang and "continued to prepare for the possibility of calling Cubangbang in a rebuttal case." GL at 2. The government, however, had actually decided that it would be calling Cubangbang as a witness in its case in chief. On October 16, 2019, the Court asked the government "Have you made a decision about whether you are going to be calling Dr. Cubangbang?" TT 315. Mr. Krouse responded: Provisionally, your Honor, we have. We have decided we are not going to call Michael Kellerman, and we expect to call Dante Cubangbang. Both he and Mr. Kellerman will be produced on Friday. We anticipate calling Dr. Cubangbang on Friday as part of our case in chief." TT 315-316 We further note that on October 17th, the government did not retract the representation that Cubangbang would testify in the government's direct case, even though Cubangbang had told them about other sexual misconduct he had committed during an interview on the evening of October 16th. We are concerned that the government's misrepresentations about their intentions as calling Cubangbang as a witness in their case in chief raises doubts about the accuracy of the other representations in the October 19th letter. The facts as to when the government first learned about Dr. Cubangbang's sexual misconduct and how it responded to that knowledge may be important in the event Dr. Cubangbang becomes unavailable as a witness." Inner City Press will continue to cover this case. It is US v. Cubangbang, 18-cr-00723 (Gardephe).

SW