7 Charged With Giving Dieters Improper Drug

Authorities have filed charges against seven people in connection with a Lancaster diet clinic that was shut down after an undercover investigation found that patients were being injected with a drug considered inappropriate for diet purposes.

The owner of the Crimson Medical Clinic, Charlotte Goldfarb, was arrested by investigators from the state Board of Medical Quality Assurance on Friday and was being held on $25,000 bond at the Antelope Valley sheriff’s station.

In a complaint filed in Lancaster Municipal Court late Thursday, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged Goldfarb with the unauthorized administration of a controlled substance without a legitimate medical purpose, practicing medicine without a license and conspiracy.

The same charges were filed against Goldfarb’s estranged husband, Dr. Arthur Goldfarb, and Dr. Lawrence Goldberg. The complaint, based on an investigation by the medical board, alleged that the two Lancaster doctors allowed the clinic to use their licenses to obtain drugs and that they knew the drugs were being dispensed by unsupervised, non-licensed clinic personnel.

Also charged were Kristin Sergeant, who authorities said was a nurse, and three other employees--Winona Young, Gloria Alcarez and Brenda Pence. Pence and Alcarez were medical assistants at the clinic, and Young was the office manager.

State authorities first shut down the diet center, then known as Mountain Medical Clinic, in October for dispensing drugs illegally. It reopened shortly afterward with a new name, the Crimson Medical Clinic, officials said, prompting the undercover investigation and a search of the offices in December.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Ogden said the offenses were committed between June and December of last year and involve 10 patients who received injections of the drug HCG, some of them several times a week. HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, is a steroid-like drug used occasionally to correct hormone deficiencies and has no effect on weight loss, Ogden said.

One of the 10 patients included in the complaint was an undercover investigator with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, who allowed himself to be injected with the drug. Ogden said some of the patients received treatment without being seen by a doctor.

Phil Foster, a regional supervisor for the medical board, said state experts who have studied HCG have determined that it should not be used for inducing weight loss.

In a telephone interview, Arthur Goldfarb disputed that view of HCG. He also maintained that he was the clinic’s unpaid medical adviser and that he did nothing wrong.

Goldfarb, who said he is divorcing his wife, said he stopped working regularly at the clinic last April. He said he ended his affiliation with the clinic partly because he was concerned about some of its procedures, but he would not be more specific.

Goldfarb said employees at the clinic may have used his name after he left. “I resent people using my reputation when they weren’t given permission,” he said.

However, Ogden said authorities believe that Goldfarb was aware of illegal activity.