CALIFORNIA
A Santa Barbara-area physician who wrote numerous prescriptions for powerful painkillers, such as OxyContin, for “patients” – many of whom were drug addicts, and some of whom died from drug overdoses – was convicted today of 79 drug trafficking charges.
Julio Gabriel Diaz, 67, a Goleta resident who operated the Family Medical Clinic in Santa Barbara, was found guilty following a 2½-week trial in U.S.District Court.
Diaz is facing up to 1,360 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in December, officials said.
Diaz, who was known to some “patients” as the “Candyman,” was a prolific writer of prescriptions for highly addictive and dangerous drugs, officials said.
In 2011, for example, Diaz wrote prescriptions for more than 1.7 million doses of painkillers, according to authorities.
In relation to all 79 counts, officials noted that the jury found that Diaz distributed the drugs outside of the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.
His “patients” typically paid cash, waited hours for a 10-minute visit with Diaz, and received prescriptions for powerful drugs that included opioids, anti-anxiety medications and muscle relaxants, according to officials.
Several doctors and pharmacists who testified during the trial said that they had never seen any doctor prescribe the combination and quantity of drugs prescribed by Diaz, officials said.
Authorities said Diaz was found guilty of 79 counts of distribution of a controlled substance.
According to the evidence presented at trial, doctors, nurses and other personnel with Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital wrote to the Medical Board of California and gave statements to investigators to complain about Diaz.
Cottage Hospital doctors believed that Diaz posed such a threat that they prepared a spreadsheet documenting emergency room visits by patients who had been prescribed narcotics by Diaz, the evidence indicated.
Diaz was arrested in this case in January 2012.
After his arrest, officials said the state of California revoked his license after finding that he provided incompetent and grossly negligent care.
The investigation into Diaz was conducted by DEA and the Santa Barbara Police Department, which received the assistance of the California Medical Board.