Woman Charged With Sale of Prescription Drugs

A Van Nuys woman was charged Monday with illegally selling prescription drugs from a swap meet booth, the second person this month to be charged with such a crime by the city attorney’s office, officials said.

Bertha Cortes, 29, was charged with unlawfully selling a prescription drug without a license, attempting to sell prescription drugs without a license and attempting to sell an improperly labeled and packaged prescription drug, said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office.

Cortes is scheduled for arraignment Sept. 8 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies received a tip that she was selling prescription drugs at her “Botanica” booth at the Bazaar Indoor Swap Meet at 6477 Van Nuys Blvd., Qualls said.

A deputy allegedly paid $7.99 for a box of Herklin shampoo, a prescription item used to treat lice, he said.

Members of the county Department of Health Services’ Pharmaceutical Task Force confiscated other prescription drugs, including injectable forms of steroids, Valium and a drug that can cause psychosis, Qualls said. They also found cream, capsule and injectable forms of penicillin.

“Buying prescription drugs illegally can be very dangerous, “ Qualls said. “You never know which ones you are allergic to or may be fatal to you.”

On Aug. 9, Irma Osornio Felix, 33, of Panorama City, was charged with illegally selling a prescription drug without a license and offering an improperly packaged drug, Qualls said. She allegedly sold the drugs from a swap meet booth at 9132 Sepulveda Blvd. in North Hills. She is scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 1.

Both cases came from undercover busts by a drug task force established in June 1998 to tackle illegal prescription sales.

Since February, the city attorney’s office has filed criminal cases against 24 people for illegal sales of prescription drugs, Qualls said.