The government's war on prescription drugs -- especially those obtained through prescriptions and pharmacies -- continues. On May 2, 2013, in the Central District
of California, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter sentenced Anush Davtyan, a laypeson who
operated four medical clinics in Reseda and Northridge to a lengthy sentence of
168 months (14 years) in federal prison for distributing abused prescription
narcotic Oxycodone. Her common law
husband who was a named defendant is a fugitive.
In a plea agreement filed with the
court, Davtyan admitted that she and her common-law husband operated four
clinics where people could purchase Oxycodone prescriptions for cash following
a medical exam. Oxycodone is sold under
brand names such as Oxycontin, Percocet and Percodan. It was alleged that the sale of drugs
happened one of two ways. The first way
was that individuals outside the conspiracy purchases a prescription for Oxycodone from a clinic following a medical exam for cash. The second way was that co-conspirators (such
as cappers) brought individuals to a clinic in order to obtain prescriptions
for Oxycodone. Those prescriptions were filled, and the drugs were brought back
to Davtyan’s clinic and were diverted to a dealer for later sale on the
street. Davtyan admitted that she had bribed pharmacists to fill the
large number of Oxycodone prescriptions generated by her clinics.
During the execution of search warrants
on September 1, 2011, federal agents found 1,116 pills in Davtyan’s Encino home
and another 7,589 pills in her Mercedes parked in her garage although she
denied that the drugs in the car were hers.
An appeal has already been filed on the lengthy sentence in the case. Given that this was a plea agreement, the sentence was longer than one would expect because there were allegations of obstruction of justice and role adjustment at sentencing.
Posted by Tracy Green, Esq. Tracy Green is an experienced Los Angeles health care fraud attorney and Los Angeles white collar criminal defense attorney who specializes in representing health care professionals such as physicians and pharmacists in criminal, DEA, administrative and civil proceedings.
Posted by Tracy Green, Esq. Tracy Green is an experienced Los Angeles health care fraud attorney and Los Angeles white collar criminal defense attorney who specializes in representing health care professionals such as physicians and pharmacists in criminal, DEA, administrative and civil proceedings.
