A former doctor at the center of a now-closed sham medical clinic that charged addicts up to $500 for painkiller prescriptions was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in federal prison.
Madhu Garg, 65, of Glendora, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt to serve three years of supervised release after she is released from prison.
In arguing for a three-year prison sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Barron said that “corrupt doctors” like Garg “contribute to the impact these drugs make” on addicts and their families.
“Issuing (illegal) prescriptions for these addictive and dangerous drugs is unacceptable,” the prosecutor said, adding that Garg was motivated by “greed.”
Kronstadt, however, said Garg’s “very substantial physical, mental and addiction issues” are significant enough to warrant a lesser sentence.
Garg pleaded guilty in February to one federal count of illegally distributing oxycodone — best known by the brand names OxyContin and Percocet – – and one count of money laundering for transferring the proceeds of criminal activity to a Malaysian bank account, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
Garg and four others were charged in a grand jury indictment last year with narcotics trafficking and selling prescriptions for potent and addictive painkillers, anti-anxiety medication and cough syrup popular among addicts.
More than 10,000 prescriptions were issued by Garg at Southfork Medical Clinic on South Western Avenue over a 15-month period tracked by investigators.
Barron said the ex-doctor raked in more than $300,000 for her part in the scheme.
Most of the prescriptions were for hydrocodone — commonly known by brand names Vicodin, Norco and Lortab — or alprazolam, best known as Xanax, mostly at their maximum dosage, according to prosecutors.
Garg had her medical license revoked in late 2013 by the state medical board, which accused her of being a controlled substances abuser.
The conspirators used Los Angeles as a base of operations to acquire and deliver bulk shipments of prescription drugs to Texas, according to court papers.
An investigation resulted in the seizure of multiple drug loads, including a January 2013 seizure of nearly 10,000 pills from clinic operator Jagehauel Gillespie’s home, and a July 2010 seizure of 48 bottles of promethazine with codeine from a car being driven across Texas by Gillespie and another defendant, according to prosecutors.
Gillespie was sentenced in October to six years behind bars.
—Staff and wire reports