Santa Ana : Doctor Fined $7,700, Placed on Probation
A Santa Ana doctor suspected of selling excessive amounts of painkillers in plain paper bags has been placed on three years’ probation and ordered to pay $7,700 in fines, his attorney said Thursday.
Dr. Joseph Gregurich, 48, who runs the Town and Country Walk-In Medical Center, pleaded no contest Wednesday in Central Municipal Court to four misdemeanor counts of illegally prescribing drugs to patients, refusing to open medical records to investigators and dispensing drugs in unlabeled containers, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig McKinnon and defense attorney Paul Meyer.
The fines include the cost of the California Medical Board investigation and a $500 penalty for each count, Meyer said.
Patients at Gregurich’s clinic received initial examinations but later were sold pills without follow-up examinations, according to state medical board investigator Steven Rhoten.
Gregurich is still being investigated by the state attorney general’s office, which is considering administrative charges against him, Rhoten said.
Investigators with the Drug Enforcement Administration noticed that Gregurich was the largest buyer of Vicodin, a painkiller, in the state during a routine audit in November, according to court documents. The DEA referred Gregurich’s case to the U.S. attorney’s office for possible fines, Rhoten said. That case is still pending, he said.
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