Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A pharmacist charged in the deaths of 11 Livingston County residents who died in a 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak linked to contaminated steroids from a Massachusetts lab has been sentenced.

56-year-old Glenn Chin was sentenced Friday afternoon by 44th Livingston County Circuit Court Chief Judge Matthew McGivney in a case charged by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office relating to a 2012 meningitis outbreak.

The State of Michigan remains the only state to further prosecute Chin and co-defendant, former New England Compounding Center owner, Barry Cadden, after their 2017 federal trials regarding the same offenses.

More than 700 people in 20 states were sickened with fungal meningitis or other debilitating illnesses, and dozens died as a result of tainted steroids shipped to pain clinics, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chin is currently serving a 10 ½ year federal sentence following his conviction at trial on racketeering charges.

The Michigan Attorney General’s Office had originally charged Chin with 2nd degree murder. He entered a no contest plea to involuntary manslaughter on August 22nd.

On Friday, Chin was sentenced to 7 ½ to 15 years in prison in the local case that has been pending since 2018.

Judge McGivney told Chin that evidence showed he caused or encouraged employees to fail to properly test drugs for sterility, failed to properly sterilize drugs and failed to properly clean and disinfect clean rooms. He said evidence also showed that Chin directed or encouraged technicians to complete clean logs even though the rooms had not been cleaned. McGivney said "There could be no doubt that you knew the risks that you were exposing these innocent patients to,” the judge added. “You promoted production and sales, you prioritized money, sacrificing cleaning and testing protocols that kept the medication safe for patients. Your focus on increased sales, increased margins cost people their lives.”


Attorney Bill Livingston issued the following statement:

“This case has been pending for six years—nearly twice as long as Mr. Chin’s Federal case lasted from indictment to trial. We are grateful that this process is over and has concluded in a way that achieves justice. Barry Cadden was sentenced on May 24th to be parole eligible after 10 years. Both my client and I have been adamant throughout this process that Mr. Cadden bore more responsibility in this matter and we feel the respective sentences are appropriate given their different levels of involvement at NECC. I have every reason to believe Mr. Chin will be an excellent candidate to be paroled at his first point of eligibility and thus, will not serve any additional time on this case than his preceding Federal sentence. No Federal or State prosecution has been able to prove intent or malice in the contamination of the methylprednisolone. I hope Mr. Chin will not have to withstand another State prosecution for a matter he has now dealt with twice-over. Further, I extend my continued gratitude to prior co-counsel Attorney James Buttrey and AAG Shawn Ryan for their dedicated work during this case.”