NECC pharmacist pleads no contest after 11 meningitis deaths in Michigan

HOWELL — A pharmacist from Massachusetts will be sentenced in October for his role in 11 meningitis deaths in Michigan.

Glenn Chin, 56, pled no contest to 11 counts of involuntary manslaughter on Thursday, Aug. 22, in Livingston County's 44th Circuit Court before Chief Judge Matthew McGivney.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing. Chin is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 11, according to news release from defense attorney Bill Livingston.

The deaths, which took place in 2012 during a nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak, were linked to contaminated methylprednisolone, a steroid. Chin worked as the supervising pharmacist at the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts, owned by Barry Cadden, which manufactured the drug.

The deaths in Michigan were tied to treatment through the Michigan Pain Specialists Clinic in Genoa Township. Patients at the MPS Clinic were given epidural injections of methylprednisolone.

Cadden and Chin were charged and sentenced in federal cases, and have since been charged by the Michigan Attorney General's Office.

For his statewide case, Cadden was sentenced to 10-15 years in prison in May . That sentence will be served concurrently with his federal sentence of 14.5 years.

Chin and Livingston recently reached an agreement with the AG’s Office, which charged Chin in December 2018. To date, Michigan is the only state in the U.S. to further prosecute Chin after his 2017 federal trial.

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As part of the sentencing agreement, Chin will be eligible for parole after 7.5 years, to be served concurrently with his existing federal sentence, with credit for time served.

Because he was first incarcerated in March 2018, Chin will be eligible for parole in the Michigan case roughly 11 months after his state sentencing in October, according to the release.

“I am pleased that we were able to come to a sensible and just resolution in this case that has been pending for nearly six years,” Livingston said. “Due to my client’s lack of intent, it has been my opinion since my involvement in this case that the allegations better suited business neglect litigation rather than a criminal prosecution.

"With today’s resolution, Mr. Chin should not face any further incarceration after his current federal sentence, and an unnecessarily burdensome and lengthy trial has been avoided for the court and the people of the state of Michigan."

— Contact reporter Evan Sasiela at esasiela@livingstondaily.com . Follow him on Twitter @SalsaEvan .

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: NECC pharmacist pleads no contest after 11 meningitis deaths in Michigan