12 people arrested in drug distribution ring case
Twelve people, including two from Burbank and one from Glendale, were arrested Thursday and are accused of being involved in a distribution ring that trafficked at least 2 million narcotic pills to the black market.
The scheme involved seven sham medical clinics that were issuing fraudulent prescriptions to obtain large quantities of prescription drugs — including oxycodone, hydrocodone, amphetamine and alprazolam — to be sold on the streets, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Officials are still looking for two additional suspects who investigators think were involved in the scheme.
Eleven people were arrested Thursday on a series of charges, including suspicion of distributing oxycodone, suspicion of possessing narcotics with intent to distribute and suspicion of acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception and subterfuge.
A 12th person, James Wilson, 54, of Venice, was arrested on suspicion of illegally selling oxycodone prescriptions from a Long Beach clinic he owned.
Burbank residents Armen Simonyan, 52, and Grisha Sayadyan, 66, are suspected of managing some of the bogus clinics.
Throughout 2016, Simonyan allegedly lied to pharmacists to conceal that the clinics had created and sold prescriptions using the name of an unidentified doctor, who, at the time, was either hospitalized or deceased when the fraudulent prescriptions were issued, according to an indictment by a Los Angeles County grand jury in June.
He also allegedly used the identity of another unidentified doctor to create and fill fraudulent prescriptions and related medical paperwork without that doctor’s consent or authorization. They also allegedly sold blank prescription pads with the physician’s name on them.
Additionally, Simonyan, Sayadyan and those who worked for them allegedly provided false information to pharmacists who were verifying the fraudulent prescriptions before filling them.
Fred Minassian, 50, of Glendale, is a criminal defense attorney who allegedly led a scheme to lie to law enforcement officials to make it appear that a shipment of Vicodin that was purchased by one of the other defendants was legitimately prescribed by a doctor, according to the statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Encino resident Minas Matosyan, 36, was the alleged mastermind behind the distribution ring. He owned six of the seven sham clinics, which were, at times, located in the Westlake District, North Hollywood and the city of Orange, officials said.
Matosyan, who is also known as “Maserati Mike,” is accused of finding doctors who were willing to have their names used when making the bogus prescriptions in exchange for kickbacks, according to the indictment.
In a phone conversation described in court documents, Matosyan told one doctor that they could be sitting at “home making $20,000 a month doing nothing.” That doctor declined Matosyan’s offer, but the defendant allegedly used that doctor’s name anyway to print prescription pads without his consent.
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
