LA doctor described as country’s 2nd most prolific prescriber convicted of 13 felony counts
By APMonday, March 15, 2010
Los Angeles physician convicted of 13 felonies
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles physician who investigators call the second “most prolific provider” of prescription drugs in the country has been convicted of 13 felony counts.
A Superior Court jury deliberated for two days before convicting 68-year-old Carlos Estiandan of unlawfully prescribing controlled substances Monday.
The Drug Enforcement Administration didn’t specify how many prescriptions Estiandan gave out. But it says he was second only to a hospital — Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore — in the total number of prescriptions written in 2008.
Estiandan came to the attention of the DEA in a statewide database that tracks prescriptions issued by physicians.
Authorities say an undercover sheriff’s deputy obtained 12 prescriptions from Estiandan without ever being examined, as part of a three-year investigation.
Estiandan faces up to 11 years in state prison.
