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11th man pleads guilty in Shore pharmaceutical fraud ring, but other shoe has yet to drop

Aside from one Atlantic City firefighter, and despite federal subpoenas issued to several Jersey S Shore towns and school districts, no other public employees have been charged in the case.

The U.S. District Courthouse in Camden.
The U.S. District Courthouse in Camden.Read moreAmy S, Rosenberg / Staff

Aside from one Atlantic City firefighter, and despite federal subpoenas issued to several Jersey Shore towns and school districts, no other public employees have been charged in the case.

On Monday, Andrew Gerstel, 39, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the state health plan out of nearly $500,000 in a morning hearing before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Authorities said that between January 2015 and April 2016, Gerstel recruited people in New Jersey to obtain "very expensive and medically unnecessary compounded medications from an out-of-state pharmacy," including pain, scar, antifungal and libido creams, as well as vitamin combinations. These compound medication prescriptions were reimbursed for thousands of dollars for a one-month supply, the government said.

The pharmacy, though referred to in each of the preceding plea agreements, has not been identified.

The insurance policies held by local government workers, including teachers, firefighters, police officers and state troopers, covered these compound medications.

The man described as the ringleader, Matthew Tedesco, a Linwood pharmaceutical representative, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 4.