Ex-pharma supervisor sentenced to 1 year in prison for stealing horse drugs

A former Long Island pharmaceutical company supervisor who pleaded guilty to theft of medical products in December 2020 was sentenced to one year and one day in prison by a federal judge in Central Islip on Wednesday. 

U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert told Gregory Settino of Bethpage that he will not have to report to prison for up to two years so he can care for his wife, who is undergoing treatment for cancer. 

“If I was not at home, I don’t know how she would survive on a daily basis,” Settino, 60,  told Seybert during his sentencing hearing Wednesday in Eastern District Court in Central Islip. 

Seybert also ordered Settino, the former production supervisor of manufacturing at Luitpold Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Shirley,  to pay  $847,093  in restitution. 

“I am taking a significant risk (with the delayed sentence) because you have committed significant crimes,” Seybert said.

Settino acknowledged at his 2020 plea hearing that he stole thousands of bottles of Adequan, a degenerative joint drug used to treat racehorses from his employer, from 2012 to 2020. The company was renamed American Regent in 2019. Prosecutors said stolen drugs were worth approximately $750,000. 

Settino sold the drugs to veterinarians and trainers at New York racetracks, including Belmont Park, for hundreds of thousands of dollar, officials said. Settino’s conduct endangered the health of the horses because the drugs were not stored or transported in accordance with procedures to ensure their safety and effectiveness. prosecutors said. Some of the bottles, prosecutors added, contained drugs that had expired. Settino transported the drugs in shoeboxes in his car. 

“Today’s sentence is the finish line of Gregory Settino’s criminal conduct. He stole thousands of bottles of drugs, ignored safe handling practices, and allowed them to be given to horses at New York racetracks without regard for the health of the animals — only focusing on his own personal gain,” said Breon Peace, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Settino’s attorney, Anthony Grandinette of Mineola, argued for probation, saying that his client was a devoted father and husband who had done much good for his community. “He is totally ashamed and humiliated,” Grandinette said.

Settino’s wife, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, has become bedridden by chemotherapy, Grandinette added. Two of Settino’s three children are grown but the youngest is in college and needs his father’s support, the attorney said. Putting Settino in prison, according to Grandinette, would be “devastating” to the family.

“My wife is very ill,” Settino said. “I would ask you to consider sentencing me to probation, not so much for me but for my wife and my family, so I can take care of her.” 

Those arguments did not sway Seybert, who said Settino’s crime warranted incarceration.

But Seybert also acknowledged that Settino, who had no prior criminal record, had accepted responsibility and expressed remorse for his actions during his plea hearing. Settino  received counseling and treatment for alcohol abuse, and has also begun making restitution to his former employer.

“You are a very different person than when you first came here,” Seybert told Settino of her decision to delay his incarceration.

CORRECTION:  A previous version of this story misstated Settino's title. He was a production supervisor.