SANTA ANA, Calif.
A San Fernando Valley man who operated corrupt medical clinics was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in federal prison for his role in a drug trafficking ring that sold thousands of illegal opioid prescriptions for cash, officials stated.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter sentenced Justin Douglas Cozart, 48, of Woodland Hills, to an 18-year-sentence.
A federal jury in February 2025 found Cozart guilty after a five-day trial of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and concealment money laundering.
Prosecutors said that from 2017 to January 2020, Cozart ran several Southern California clinics that issued oxycodone prescriptions outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.
The operation relied on recruiters who brought in sham patients to clinics in Inglewood, Santa Ana and Anaheim.
Cozart employed doctors, including John Korzelius, 74, of Long Beach — known as “Dr. K” — who wrote prescriptions for the fake patients. Recruiters paid Cozart for the prescriptions, then took patients to pharmacies to fill them.
The pills were collected, consolidated and shipped to a customer in the Boston area for black-market distribution. Law enforcement seized parcels containing pills in October and December 2018.
In late 2019, Korzelius issued prescriptions for 60 pills of 30-milligram oxycodone — the highest dose of short-acting oxycodone — to an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a patient at an Inglewood clinic.
Korzelius did not perform a physical exam and advised the officer not to fill the prescription at large chain pharmacies.
Prosecutors said Cozart “converted otherwise lawful chiropractic clinics into drug trafficking businesses” and helped supply large quantities of a highly addictive opioid for distribution across the country.
In total, nine defendants have been convicted in the case.
Korzelius pleaded guilty in February 2025 to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. His California medical license expired in December 2020.
He is scheduled to be sentenced June 8.
Quick facts:
- Defendant: Justin Douglas Cozart, 48, Woodland Hills
- Sentence: 216 months (18 years) in federal prison
- Convictions: Drug trafficking conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, concealment money laundering
- Scheme timeframe: 2017 to January 2020
- Drug involved: Oxycodone
- Method: Sham patients, cash payments, fraudulent prescriptions
- Distribution: Pills shipped to Boston-area customer
- Co-defendant: Dr. John Korzelius, pleaded guilty; sentencing set for June 8
- Total convictions in case: Nine