{"id":43709,"date":"2021-08-13T22:48:44","date_gmt":"2021-08-14T05:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709"},"modified":"2021-08-13T22:49:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-14T05:49:24","slug":"high-desert-doctor-arrested-on-federal-narcotics-charges-for-issuing-prescriptions-without-medical-need-after-telemedicine-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Arrested on Federal Narcotics Charges for Issuing Prescriptions Without Medical Need after Telemedicine Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Los Angeles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A High Desert physician was arrested on charges of illegally dispensing prescriptions for often-abused controlled substances \u2013 including opioid-based medications \u2013 during telemedicine sessions with \u201cpatients\u201d from across the United States, according to officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Raphael Tomas Malikian, 36, who resides in Llano and Palmdale and called his medical practice Happy Family Medicine. He was arrested Wednesday by special agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

An indictment naming Malikian was unsealed at his arraignment Thursday evening, when Malikian entered not guilty pleas and a United States Magistrate Judge ordered him detained pending trial, which is currently scheduled for October 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malikian is charged in an 11-count indictment with illegally distributing narcotics \u201cwhile acting and intending to act outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The controlled substances that Malikian allegedly distributed are oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam, promethazine and codeine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DEA investigation was prompted by multiple reports in February 2020 of suspicious prescriptions issued by Malikian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The indictment alleges specific incidents in which Malikian prescribed controlled substances without a medical purpose after seven telemedicine consultations \u2013 including one conducted entirely via text message \u2013 starting in April 2020 and continuing through July 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of the consultations involved any physical exam or diagnostic tests, and the appointments lasted as little as 2 minutes and 20 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A federal judge on Thursday unsealed search warrants executed at Malikian\u2019s residences in conjunction with his arrest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The affidavit in support of the search warrants outlines the DEA\u2019s investigation, which included various undercover operations in which agents from the DEA and California DOJ posed as patients and received the prescriptions that form the basis of the indictment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DEA agent who authored the affidavit concluded that Malikian \u201ceffectively sells prescriptions for controlled substances to patients upon request, and does so without obtaining a patient\u2019s medical history or conducting a physical examination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the affidavit, an independent medical expert reviewed the interactions between Malikian and the undercover agents and \u201cconcluded that Malikian \u2018did not thoroughly evaluate his patients\u2019 before prescribing \u2018potent and potentially deadly medications,\u2019 and had done so \u2018without any regard to what is required of conscientious physicians in the United States before proceeding with controlled medications.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            A DEA investigator also reviewed patient records maintained by Malikian, which showed that Malikian saw patients across the United States. Also, about 43 percent of them shared common addresses, email addresses, \u201ccaregivers\u201d or phone numbers with other patients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the affidavit, one of those patients was a convicted narcotics trafficker and another was stopped at Los Angeles International Airport while carrying over $19,000 in cash and approximately 1,764 Hydrocodone and Alprazolam pills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malikian is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. He is facing up to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DEA is conducting an ongoing investigation in this case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles A High Desert physician was arrested on charges of illegally dispensing prescriptions for often-abused controlled substances \u2013 including opioid-based medications \u2013 during telemedicine sessions with \u201cpatients\u201d from across the United…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDoctor Arrested on Federal Narcotics Charges for Issuing Prescriptions Without Medical Need after Telemedicine Sessions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Los Angeles A High Desert physician was arrested on charges of illegally dispensing prescriptions for often-abused controlled substances \u2013 including\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doctor Arrested on Federal Narcotics Charges for Issuing Prescriptions Without Medical Need after Telemedicine Sessions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Los Angeles A High Desert physician was arrested on charges of illegally dispensing prescriptions for often-abused controlled substances \u2013 including\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-14T05:48:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-14T05:49:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/oxycodone-abuse1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"278\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43709#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43709\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Doctor Arrested on Federal Narcotics Charges for Issuing Prescriptions Without Medical Need after Telemedicine Sessions\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-14T05:48:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-14T05:49:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43709\"},\"wordCount\":484,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43709#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/oxycodone-abuse1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"American Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43709#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43709\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43709\",\"name\":\"Doctor Arrested on Federal Narcotics Charges for Issuing Prescriptions Without Medical Need after Telemedicine Sessions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43709#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43709#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/oxycodone-abuse1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-14T05:48:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-14T05:49:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"Los Angeles A High Desert physician was arrested on charges of illegally dispensing prescriptions for often-abused controlled substances \u2013 including\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43709\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43709#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/oxycodone-abuse1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/oxycodone-abuse1.jpg\",\"width\":370,\"height\":278},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Doctor Arrested on Federal Narcotics Charges for Issuing Prescriptions Without Medical Need after Telemedicine Sessions","description":"Los Angeles A High Desert physician was arrested on charges of illegally dispensing prescriptions for often-abused controlled substances \u2013 including","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Doctor Arrested on Federal Narcotics Charges for Issuing Prescriptions Without Medical Need after Telemedicine Sessions","og_description":"Los Angeles A High Desert physician was arrested on charges of illegally dispensing prescriptions for often-abused controlled substances \u2013 including","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2021-08-14T05:48:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-14T05:49:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":370,"height":278,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/oxycodone-abuse1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Doctor Arrested on Federal Narcotics Charges for Issuing Prescriptions Without Medical Need after Telemedicine Sessions","datePublished":"2021-08-14T05:48:44+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-14T05:49:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709"},"wordCount":484,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/oxycodone-abuse1.jpg","articleSection":["American Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709","name":"Doctor Arrested on Federal Narcotics Charges for Issuing Prescriptions Without Medical Need after Telemedicine Sessions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/oxycodone-abuse1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-08-14T05:48:44+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-14T05:49:24+00:00","description":"Los Angeles A High Desert physician was arrested on charges of illegally dispensing prescriptions for often-abused controlled substances \u2013 including","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43709#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/oxycodone-abuse1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/oxycodone-abuse1.jpg","width":370,"height":278},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43709"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43715,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43709\/revisions\/43715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}