How a California Criminal Attorney Is Able To Defend Against Drug Fraud

The misuse of taking or prescribing a controlled substance through misrepresentation, fraud, deceit, forgery or burglary is a crime of prescription drug fraud under California Health and Safety Code Sections 11172 through 11175, 11153 through 11157 or 11368. Often persons with drug addictions may be involved in prescription drug fraud by either purchasing or obtaining a controlled substance such as Vicodin, Oxycontin, Hydrocodone, Methadone, Percodan, Ritalin and Xanax in an illegal manner in order to make money or for their own use. For instance, stealing your doctor’s prescription pad and forging your doctor’s signature in order to authorize a prescription, adjusting your doctor’s prescription by changing the quantity or dosage of the prescription, using a computer to create a false prescription or doctor shopping by using multiple doctors and pharmacies to obtain prescriptions of the same drug without each doctor’s and/or pharmacy’s knowledge are all examples of crimes of prescription drug fraud. Doctors who commit prescription drug fraud by writing prescriptions for medical purposes that are not considered legitimate or treating an addict outside professional treatment may lose their licenses, have to pay large fines and face jail time if they are convicted of prescription drug fraud.
Penalties and Fines
Prescription drug fraud may be prosecuted as either a misdemeanor or a felony offense in California, and the penalties may include state prison or county jail time, probation, fines, community service, drug counseling or rehabilitation.  Doctors that are convicted of prescription drug fraud under Health and Safety Code Sections 11153 and 11154 face losing their licenses, prison time in state prison up to three years or county jail up to one year and fines not exceeding $20,000. Persons convicted under Section 11173 of doctor shopping face jail time in the county jail up to one year or up to three years in a California state prison.

Case Examples

Case 1
According to an amended accusation filed on December 21, 2010, by the Medical Board of California, Yuba City physician Jeffrey Lawrence Phillips of North Valley Neurological Associates, 1215 Plumas St., allegedly prescribed Abien, Restoril and Naxanx for himself by using another doctor’s name. Dr. Phillips had been convicted in a Sacramento County Superior Court and sentenced to five years probation, including jail time, for Medicare and Medi-cal fraud in August 2008. At that time, he agreed to pay approximately $83,000 in restitution. During 2006 and 2008 while working for nursing homes, Phillips submitted false claims for payment and signed patients’ progress reports for patients who had died or had been discharged according to the Board’s documents. A hearing is scheduled on March 1, 2011 regarding his medical license. Dr. Phillips also provides medical marijuana evaluations under the name North Valley Wellness Center which shares the same address as the North Valley Neurological Associates. Dr. Phillips refused to talk about the allegations when asked on January 6, 2011.

In September 2009, Dr. Phillips told a Board investigator that his neighbor, physician Richard Joseph Brouette, occasionally prescribed medications for him. Dr. Brouette told investigators that he only prescribed a refill for Ambien one time, and that Phillips only became a patient in July 2010. During the time period March 2005 and January of 2010, Phillips allegedly improperly obtained 1,340 tablets of Ambien. At an evaluation in October, Phillips made false statements to a psychiatrist stating that he never used another physician’s name to authorize prescription medicine refills without that physician’s knowledge.

Case 2
Parents, teachers and law enforcement officers in Santa Monica, CA are concerned about the 35 drug arrests made so far during January 2011 at Santa Monica High. The number is 17 more than the all of 2010. The majority of the arrests have been for illegal prescription drug use. Officials reported that the arrests involved students of different ages, races and ethnic backgrounds, and officials have no explanation for the increase in illegal prescription drug use. The school is focusing on educating parents to keep their medications away from their children and how to recognize the signs of drug abuse.  A parent whose 14 year old daughter was arrested for taking Ecstasy suggested that the school bring in drug sniffing dogs to find the students who are selling and using drugs, but school board member Oscar de la Torre is against this practice.

If you have been arrested of a prescription drug fraud offense, you should hire a California criminal defense attorney to defend you. The attorney may be able to get your charges reduced, especially if there was entrapment involved, get the case dismissed or have your sentence reduced to rehabilitation, probation or community service.

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