Doctor is held in drug case

A San Fernando Valley physician was so willing to write bogus prescriptions for pain medication in exchange for cash that drug dealers started shipping in homeless people from San Diego for him to see as “patients,” federal authorities allege.

The homeless were given a free lunch and $100 to make the trip and collect the prescription slips, authorities said. Investigators believe the drugs were sold for profit on the streets of Tijuana.

Dr. Masoud Bamdad, 54, of Granada Hills was arrested April 17 and indicted by a federal grand jury late Tuesday. He faces numerous counts of prescribing drugs for no medical purpose.

Bamdad, who is being held without bail pending trial, could not be reached for comment. There is no indication that Bamdad knew homeless people were being recruited to see him as part of a scheme to sell the drugs he prescribed for a profit, authorities said.

An eight-month undercover DEA investigation into Bamdad’s practice was cut short last month after the apparent overdose death of a 23-year-old recovering drug addict to whom he had prescribed oxycodone and another drug, according to court documents.

As part of the Drug Enforcement Administration investigation, agents went to Bamdad’s office pretending to be people in search of drugs, according to an arrest affidavit by Special Agent Susannah Herkert.

During the visits, Bamdad made only cursory physical examinations -- or conducted no exam -- before prescribing the powerful and addictive painkillers, authorities say. He prescribed the medications even though the “patients” said they were experiencing only minor pain, that they wanted the drugs only for enjoyment or were getting them for somebody else, authorities allege. The doctor even discussed the street price of OxyContin with one of the undercover agents, authorities said.

DEA agents believe Bamdad was generating up to $100,000 in cash per week by writing the bogus prescriptions. Bamdad charged $100 to $300 for each prescription, depending on the number of pills a person wanted, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Lisa E. Feldman, who is prosecuting the case.

“And he would put the cash right into his pocket,” she said.

Based on a review of pharmacy records, agents determined that Bamdad prescribed about 70,000 OxyContin tablets in 2007, making him one of the top five prescribers of the drug in Southern California, Nevada and Hawaii.

During the investigation, agents discovered that homeless people were routinely being brought to the clinic in vans from San Diego-area shelters.

“Recruiters” who were arranging the trips would accompany the homeless patients into the clinic, where Bamdad prescribed drugs for them, according to court documents. Afterward, the recruiters loaded the patients back into the vans and drove them to a local pharmacy to have the prescriptions filled.

While they were waiting, the recruiters took the homeless people to lunch and paid them a $100 fee, the documents state. Investigators say the drugs prescribed to the patients were sold in Tijuana.

According to court papers, Bamdad has been in trouble with the law before, but it was unrelated to his practice.

In 1999, he was arrested for making threats with intent to terrorize, willful cruelty to a child, battery on a peace officer, false imprisonment and spousal battery. He was convicted on two counts of battery and one count of resisting an officer, the documents state.

Bamdad, a 1979 graduate of the Tehran University, Faculty of Medicine in Iran, is in good standing with the Medical Board of California, according to the board’s website.

But Candis Cohen, a board spokeswoman, said the board was aware of the current allegations and was “responding appropriately.”

--

scott.glover@latimes.com