Former Jersey Shore firefighter sentenced for role in $50 million prescription drug fraud

A former firefighter will spend a year in federal prison for his role in a $50 million prescription drug fraud, court records show.

Michael Sher, of Northfield, was part of a group that committed health care fraud between 2014 and 2016. He was sentenced May 16, according to court records. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kugler sentenced Sher to three years of supervised release. He must also pay nearly $7 million in restitution.

Sher and his two brothers, John Sher and Tom Sher, served as “recruiters” for William Hickman, who has already pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in October, records show. John Sher and Tom Sher are also former firefighters.

A former pharmaceutical salesman, Hickman, headed the program and recruited and paid government employees to receive unnecessary compounded prescription drugs, it was previously reported.

All three Sher brothers were Margate firefighters when they took part in the project. Several co-defendants, including Michael Sher's brothers, are owed money in restitution.

In 2018, 50 people were charged in connection with the scheme and 46 pleaded guilty. Michael Sher's guilty plea at the time was one of the first 20 guilty pleas obtained from prosecutors.

Michael Sher also testified at Tom Sher's trial in 2022. Tom Sher was sentenced last year to eight years in prison, the harshest sentence of anyone convicted in the case.

John Sher was sentenced to 37 months in prison after pleading guilty. He is expected to be released in February 2025, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

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Eric Conklin can be reached at [email protected].