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November 6, 2014

Former pharmacy prof sentenced

Former pharmacy faculty member Billy Day, 52, pleaded no contest on Oct. 27 to 23 counts of felony drug possession for purchasing narcotics using research funding he had obtained while at the University.

He was ordered to pay $3,864 to Pitt in restitution, received a sentence of six years’ probation without verdict and will undergo drug and alcohol rehabilitation. He also must undergo periodic narcotics-use and mental-health evaluations. If his probation is completed successfully, his criminal record “all goes away,” Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Randal B. Todd told Day.

Four of the counts had carried a possible sentence of five years in prison and $15,000 fines. Assistant District Attorney Alex Cashman noted that Day bought the drugs “for his own personal use.” Day was arrested by Pitt Police in late summer 2013.

Day had appointments in the departments of pharmaceutical sciences, chemistry, environmental and occupational health and computational and systems biology, and with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He was director of the Proteomics Core Lab for the Schools of the Health Sciences and of medicinal chemistry in the Drug Discovery Institute.

He resigned from Pitt on March 1. He told the judge he hoped to return to academics or pursue consulting work.

—Marty Levine

Filed under: Feature,Volume 47 Issue 6