A Glen Head physician and his adult son are accused of turning a quiet home office into a family pill pipeline, allegedly steering prescriptions for oxycodone, Adderall and Xanax to pharmacies across Queens. The men, a 71-year-old retired OBGYN and his 33-year-old son, were arraigned Thursday, pleaded not guilty, and were released on their own recognizance after prosecutors outlined what they call a months-long operation uncovered when pharmacists started flagging suspicious scripts.
Charges and arraignment
According to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, Richard Taubman, 71, and his son, Eric Taubman, 33, were arraigned April 30 on 20 counts of Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance, three counts of Attempted Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance, and one count of Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree.
Prosecutors say the alleged scheme ran from April 5 through June 29, 2022, and involved hundreds of pills, including oxycodone-acetaminophen (Percocet), dextroamphetamine-amphetamine (Adderall) and alprazolam (Xanax). The DA’s office says the pair surrendered to investigators before their arraignment and are scheduled to return to Nassau County Court on May 7, 2026.
How investigators say the operation worked
Investigators allege Eric acted as the go-between, relaying names and medication requests from friends and acquaintances to his father, while Richard issued prescriptions without conducting medical evaluations. Those prescriptions were then sent electronically from his Glen Head home to multiple pharmacies in Queens, according to prosecutors.
“Richard Taubman, and his son, Eric Taubman, allegedly operated a family-run distribution hub for controlled substances,” District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement. The DA’s release says some of the people who received the pills kept them for themselves, while others allegedly resold them for profit or traded them for cash and other drugs.
Legal fallout and what’s next
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which worked with Nassau prosecutors on the multi-year probe, echoed the DA’s account of the alleged scheme and noted that the defendants face up to 5½ years in prison if convicted. The DEA praised its Long Island SPEAR team for helping to uncover the operation and said reports to a pharmacy tipline helped trigger the investigation.
Court filings list the Nassau County District Attorney’s Pharmaceutical Diversion and Cyber Crimes Unit as leading the prosecution. All charges are accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Where this fits in the bigger picture
Pill-mill crackdowns remain a major focus for law enforcement in the region. In March, a Long Island physician was sentenced in federal court to seven years in prison for operating an oxycodone pill mill out of a Great Neck office, according to a recent U.S. Department of Justice release. That case is one of several in which prosecutors at both the state and federal levels have gone after prescribers accused of swapping scripts for cash or other perks.
PIX11 reported that the Taubmans were not immediately available for comment. Officials say the probe into the Glen Head case began after Queens pharmacists reported suspicious prescriptions to a DEA tipline in July 2022. A multi-agency review of pharmacy records and interviews followed, culminating in the April 30 surrender and arraignment. The case is due back in Nassau County Court on May 7, 2026.
