COUNTYWIDE : 3rd Person Jailed in Vitamin Scam

A man accused of posing as a doctor to sell vitamins to elderly Latinos has been sentenced to 60 days in jail.

Armando Morales, 58, was given the jail term Monday by Ventura County Municipal Judge Kenneth W. Riley. Last week, Riley sentenced Francisco Javier Gazca, 39, to 90 days in the same case. Gazca’s wife, Libertad Gazca, 27, was sentenced to 30 days.

All three pleaded guilty to practicing medicine without a license and false advertising and were ordered to pay a total of $8,000 in restitution to the victims.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Marcia W. Strickland said the defendants hired young women to canvass Latino neighborhoods in Oxnard and Santa Paula and collect health information from elderly people. The defendants would follow up on the visits, she said, carrying stethoscopes, black bags and other props.

“They would prescribe their vitamins and minerals and tell them these things would cure their medical problems,” Strickland said. Although no one became ill following the defendants’ advice, she said, “They told them more than once that they didn’t need to take valid medications, and some had serious problems like diabetes.”

The prosecutor said the vitamin packages sold for $300 to $400 but were worth only about $60. Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom said his client, Libertad Gazca, had professional medical training in Mexico. He said all three defendants got into vitamin sales through a Los Angeles doctor who told them that it was legal. He said he had had dozens of witnesses prepared to testify that the defendants had not posed as physicians.

Windom acknowledged, however, that the three had apparently practiced medicine without a license by taking blood pressure measurements and making medical claims for their vitamins.