City Attorney Mike Feuer announced Thursday he is pursuing misdemeanor charges against people selling pharmaceuticals without licenses at swap meets and other places around the city.
The drugs include antibiotics, steroid creams, diet pills, diuretics, silicon products used for body modification and drugs that can only be dispensed through prescriptions or cannot be legally sold in the United States, according to Feuer.
Those drugs are illegal and pose “health and safety hazards” to consumers, he said.
Feuer said he has brought cases against five people accused of selling drugs without proper authorization and plans to file more next week. If convicted, Maria Bonilla, Vicenta Munoz, Isaac Ramirez, Ana Bahena and Gloria Fuentes face fines between $5,000 to $10,000 and one to two years in jail, according to the city attorney.
“We’ll continue aggressively to prosecute those who dispense these drugs that endanger communities throughout Los Angeles,” Feuer said.
The crackdown is part of a multi-agency effort led by the Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force and including personnel from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.
— City News Service