Two people from Massachusetts, both closely linked to the New England Compounding Center in that state, have been charged with second degree murder in connection to several deaths that include the September 17, 2012 death of Clinton Circuit Judge Eddie C. Lovelace.

The 73 page indictment charges Barry Cadden, one of the co-founders of the company, along with Adam Chin, a pharmacist with the same firm, with 25 counts of second-degree murder.

The indictments are connected to the release of what was proved to be tainted steroids manufactured by the firm and sold to several medical facilities, including the one that Lovelace was being treated at in Nashville, Tennessee, Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center.

At the time of Lovelace’s death, it was believed that the long-time local politician and office holder had died of a stroke.

It turned out that the actual cause of the stroke was those tainted steriods Lovelace had been injected with.

When reports of the tainted steroids began surfacing in the days following his death, his family requested that an autopsy be performed on Lovelace’s body to determine an exact cause of death.

It was the results of that autopsy that confirmed Lovelace had died as a direct result of having been injected with tainted steroids manufactured by New England Compounding Center.

The autopsy was performed by George R. Nichols, II.

Nichols said that the injections, which were given to Lovelace in Tennessee, contained a fungus that set off a series of health problems that ultimately led to his death.

“The organism was introduced by an injection of a tainted pharmaceutical substance. That’s how it all happened,” Nichols stated in a media interview two weeks ago.

The report released by Nichols, a forensic pathologist, further noted the fungus caused a blood vessel infection, which Nichols said caused a blockage of blood at the base of Lovelace’s brain. That resulted in a stroke and the judge’s eventual death.

Lovelace, who had been injured in an earlier automobile accident causing problems with his back, received the steroid injections at Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center in Nashville on July 27, August 17 and August 31.

Lovelace death was one 16 linked to the tainted steroids in the state of Tennessee alone where at least 153 people became sick after being treated with the steroids.

Nationally, some 751 people were sickened, with 64 of them dying.

In addition to Cadden and Chin, the indictment also brought various charges against a dozen other people affiliated with the compounding center in Massachusetts, with a total of 131 different counts.

The charges range from mail fraud to the introduction of adulterated and misbranded drugs into interstate commerce.

The compounding pharmacy has since filed bankruptcy, giving up its license after being flooded with lawsuits filed by victims and the families of victims.

The indictment charges that employees of the pharmacy failed to properly test drugs for sterility.

In addition to the second degree murder charges, Cadden and Chin, along with several of the others named in the indictment, were also charged with several counts of racketeering as well as mail fraud.