Six indicted by federal grand jury in black-market medical supplies operation

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - Six people, including a Georgia man, were indicted Thursday on federal charges of participating in a $4 million scheme to sell medical devices on the black market. <br> <br> Five of those indicted by the U.S. grand jury were former sales representatives of St. Louis-based Sherwood Medical Co. They allegedly stole or fraudulently obtained skin staples and surgical sutures, then sold them to the sixth defendant, a medical supplies wholesaler, who resold them to other wholesalers or hospitals at prices well below normal, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said. <br> <br> Each defendant was charged with five counts of mail fraud. They will be arraigned at a later date, prosecutors said. <br> <br> The discovery of $382,500 in cash in the trunk of a company car used by salesman Robert Wayman led FBI agents to meticulous records showing the operation produced about $3 million in profits between 1991 and 1997, when Wayman died of a stroke, according to the Chicago Tribune. <br> <br> Prosecutors said Wayman had acted as a middleman and the others kept the operation going after his death. <br> <br> A lawyer for Sherwood said the company was unaware of the illegal operation until it was alerted to it by the FBI. <br> <br> ``As the government has recognized, the company was the victim of the illegal conduct,&#39;&#39; Sherwood attorney Sheldon Zenner said. ``None of the employees who were involved are with the company any longer, and the company took prompt corrective action to make sure that this kind of conduct will never occur again.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The wholesaler indicted was Steven Siddell, 55, of Evanston. The five former sales people charged were Adam Sampson of Fairview Heights; James Kramer, 43, of New York; Rosanna Jansen, 34, of Perrysburg, Ohio; Frank Stevens, 39, of Mentor, Ohio; and Jeff Mirnov, 39, of Duluth, Ga. The firm was known as Sherwood, Davis and Geck, Ltd. until recent years, prosecutors said. <br> <br> If the defendants are convicted, each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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