Former Doctor Pleads Guilty to Federal Criminal Charges for Illegally Selling Painkillers for Cash at His High Desert Medical Clinic
LOS ANGELES – An ex-physician pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges for illegally prescribing and distributing the semi-synthetic opioid painkiller oxycodone to undercover operatives who visited the physician’s Victorville medical office.
Wendell Mark Street, 67, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of illegally prescribing oxycodone to patients without a legitimate medical purpose. United States District Judge George H. Wu has scheduled a December 9 sentencing hearing, at which time Street will face a statutory maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.
Street admitted in court today that, while he was a licensed anesthesiologist, on August 1, 2013, he sold two prescriptions for $300 each to a confidential informant and an undercover investigator with the California Medical Board. He further admitted that he wrote the prescriptions without a legitimate medical purpose and intentionally acted outside the usual course of professional practice, including by failing to conduct a physical examination, establish diagnostic testing, provide a treatment plan, and create documentation to establish a medication indication for the prescriptions.
The investigation showed that Street prescribed 7,769 prescriptions for narcotics, including 437,000 doses of oxycodone, from November 2012 to November 2013.
Street was charged in a 10-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in February 2018. During the investigation into Street, investigators executed a search warrant at his Victorville office in 2014. Street surrendered his California medical license in 2016.
This matter was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration – Riverside District Office Diversion Group.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Bryant Y. Yang of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section and Jason C. Pang of the General Crimes Section.
Release No. 19-160
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