Yardville Woman Admits to Role in Oxycodone Ring

A Yardville woman admitted Wednesday that she conspired with Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni, Charles Hall III and others to illegally distribute oxycodone pain pills, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Stephanie Lima, 41, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton federal court to an Information charging her with conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Between August 2011 and September 2011, Lima agreed with Hall, Carol Kounitz and Giorgianni to obtain oxycodone from a doctor and distribute that oxycodone in exchange for payment. On Aug. 17, 2011, Lima traveled with Kounitz and Hall to a doctor in Nutley. Lima admitted that during this trip she tried to attend an appointment with the doctor in order to obtain a prescription for oxycodone pills, but was unsuccessful. Kounitz obtained a prescription for oxycodone on Aug. 17, 2011, and Lima admitted that she and Kounitz filled this prescription and provided the pills to Hall for distribution.

Lima and Kounitz, in coordination with Hall, made a second trip to the doctor on Sept. 14, 201, during which Lima obtained a prescription for 120 15-mg oxycodone pills and Kounitz obtained a prescription for 120 30-mg oxycodone pills. Lima admitted that she and Kounitz later filled those prescriptions and provided the pills to Hall in exchange for payment. Lima understood Giorgianni to be overseeing the sale of the oxycodone that she and Kounitz provided to Hall.

The drug conspiracy charge is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 2.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Trenton Resident Agency, Newark Field Office, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge David Velazquez, for the investigation leading to the guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric W. Moran and Matthew J. Skahill of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Trenton and Camden, respectively.

—U.S. Attorney General's Office