Former Grosse Pointe Park pharmacist sentenced in fake prescriptions case

A former Grosse Pointe Park pharmacist was sentenced Wednesday to eight years and four months in federal prison for filling fake prescriptions, officials said.

Hasna Bashir Iwas, 62, must also forfeit the full $781,546 as part of her sentence, a U.S. District Court judge ruled.

Iwas regularly filled fake prescriptions ordered by a doctor who illegally wrote controlled substance prescriptions in Grosse Pointe Park between 2013 and 2018, the U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of Michigan said in a statement.

The New Baltimore resident, who operated Beacon Pointe Pharmacy in Grosse Pointe Park, received a personal gross income of $781,546 for distributing the drugs, which had an estimated street value of $1.8 million to $3.3 million, according to the release.

Iwas owned a white Mercedes and a waterfront home with a private boat well — a lifestyle she could not afford on the annual $40,000, at most, she made from legitimate pharmacy business, according to a sentencing memorandum from the prosecution.

"She thought working in any retail pharmacy was beneath her ability," the filing stated.

Iwas gave perjured testimony and deliberately "went out of her way to cultivate the appearance that she was an honest pharmacist," prosecutors wrote.

In a sentencing memorandum, Iwas' attorneys James Howarth and William Broman wrote their client "against all common sense" left the pharmacy with no pharmacist to attend to her mother after a series of family emergencies and upon learning her mother had congestive heart failure.

"Ms. Iwas paid a stiff price for her clearly altruistic decision," the defense attorneys wrote.

"Ms. Iwas did not live the high life of a drug kingpin, but rather cared for people and gave her time freely to her family and those who needed her assistance. She was not a saint; she made naïve mistakes in judgment and while she was generous, she was also a darn poor judge of character."

Dr. Otis Crawford pled guilty to writing the prescriptions but died before his sentencing, officials reported.

Investigators found Iwas had posted prescription drug warnings and "red flag" flyers on the the pharmacy walls in an attempt to look legitimate, according to the sentencing memo.

She also dispensed and sold controlled substances in blank bottles, despite federal regulations requiring a label on the drugs, according to the filing.

Authorities determined she was criminally responsible for more than 300,000 dosage units of controlled substances, according to the release.

A jury in November convicted Iwas of 25 counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances and one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.