Woman Who Gave Injection Faces Charges

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office Friday filed charges of practicing medicine without a license against a woman who gave an antibiotic injection in a home clinic to a man who collapsed and later died of a severe throat infection.

An arrest warrant was issued for Refugio Sandoval, 59, who police said fled to Sonora, Mexico, in April after Jesus Nicolas Anchondo, 22, of Arleta died at a local hospital.

Sandoval was not charged with his death because the Los Angeles County coroner’s office determined that he died of natural causes--severe strep throat--and not from the injection.

Police said they found a room full of illegal drugs at Sandoval’s home on Hesperia Avenue, some of which are banned in the United States, along with syringes and other medical paraphernalia. Investigators determined that the illegal drugs had come from Mexico and confiscated about 120 containers of medication, 81 of which are considered dangerous drugs available only by prescription, police said.

Sandoval also was charged with illegally practicing medicine under circumstances that could have caused great bodily harm, administering a controlled substance with a license, operating a business or trade without a license, possession of a hypodermic needle and unlawful use of a hypodermic needle, according to a statement from the city attorney’s office.