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A former physicians assistant and a former player for the Utah Grizzlies hockey team were arrested on Tuesday on federal charges from New York that allege they illegally supplied oxycodone to former Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard shortly before he died of an overdose.
The former team physicians assistant, Oscar Johnson, 59, of Salt Lake City, was arrested here and appeared in federal court where he was released and required to appear in court in New York on Sept. 22.
Jordan Hart, 31, a player for the Grizzlies in the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons, was to appear Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Manhattan .
Johnson allegedly wrote illegal prescriptions to Hart almost monthly from June 2009 through July 2011 despite never having treated or diagnosed him for injuries or illnesses during his time on the team and after he stopped playing here, the indictment says.
Hart allegedly sold at least some of the oxycodone, also called Percocet, to Boogaard. Boogaard suffered from brain disease believed to be connected to the blows he suffered playing and was addicted to painkillers and Ambien.
He died from an overdose of oxycodone and alcohol on May 13, 2011, two weeks after purchasing oxycodone from Hart, the indictment alleges.
"His death in Minneapolis led law enforcement on a trail to Long Island and Utah that identified two people who allegedly supplied him diverted oxycodone, Jordan Hart and Oscar Johnson," DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt said in a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York.
Johnson had been employed from 2007 to mid-2011 by an unidentified medical group in West Jordan that provided medical services to the Grizzlies and was the group's main contact with the team, the indictment states. The team relationship ended when he was no longer employed by the medical group, said Adrian Denny, the Grizzlies spokesman.
Johnson holds a state license as a physicians assistant and one that allows him to prescribe controlled substances, according to Jennifer Bolton, spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Commerce.
Johnson allegedly signed 26 prescriptions and provided them to a medical assistant to mail to Hart in New York, where all were filled.
Hart sold at least some of them to Boogaard, who suffered a severe concussion in an fight during a game in December 2010 and never played again, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.
"Boogaard subsequently suffered severe migraines and began spending most of his time in his New York apartment with the lights off, abusing oxycodone and Ambien," it said.
The New York Islanders hockey team assigned Hart to the Grizzlies for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons when the Utah team was an affiliate, Denny said.
Hart is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
Johnson is charged with 26 counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and one count of making a false statement.