Doctor Gets 7 Years for Drug Trafficking

A Newport Coast doctor who maintained clinics in Downey and the Westlake District was sentenced today to seven years in federal prison for distributing powerful and addictive painkillers to "patients'' he never examined but who simply forked over cash for prescriptions.

Nazar Al-Bussam, 72, was immediately remanded into custody by U.S. District Judge S. James Otero. In addition to the prison term, Otero ordered Al-Bussam to pay a $125,000 fine and to forfeit more than $450,000 in profits derived from his drug trafficking activities.

"He did it for one primary reason—sheer profit,'' Otero said.

Al-Bussam pleaded guilty in July to 18 federal charges, including conspiracy and distributing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose.

A state database shows that Al-Bussam, during a nearly three-year period that ended with his arrest one year ago, was the No. 1 prescriber of controlled substances in the entire state of California, and that he wrote about two-thirds more prescriptions than the next most prolific doctor.

The defendant "sold the prescriptions for cash,'' Otero said, making the pharmacists who filled them "unwitting'' and  "unwilling'' accomplices.

In his clinics, the doctor spent no more than five minutes with patients, taking orders "to feed their narcotics addictions'' while "stuffing his pockets'' with around $3,500 a day, the judge said. Otero pointed out that Al-Bussam once pocketed $10,000 after one particularly memorable day's "work.''

In arguing for a sentence of probation, defense attorney Benjamin Gluck said his client—who studied medicine in Baghdad and began practicing in California more than three decades ago—treated actual patients during the period he was breaking the law.

But Otero cut him off, saying, "I didn't see that in the record.''

In his plea agreement, signed on the eve of trial, Al-Bussam admitted that on numerous occasions in 2009 and 2010, he sold prescriptions for oxycodone, hydromorphone, hydrocodone, alprazolam and promethazine with codeine. He admitted that he wrote the prescriptions outside of the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.

Speaking to the court, Al-Bussam apologized to his family, the community and the judge for his actions.

"After a lifetime working as a doctor, it fills me with shame to stand here before you,'' he told Otero, as his wife and son looked on, expressionless.

"I failed to live up to the standards I set for myself,'' he said.

As part of the investigation, undercover operatives went to one of Al-Bussam's clinics, saw the doctor and purchased prescriptions for various controlled substances, paying $200 in cash for each prescription on the first visit, and $100 in follow-up visits.

According to court documents, federal agents reviewed records related to Al-Bussam's prescriptions and estimated that in recent years, the doctor raked in well over $1 million annually.

Prosecutors recommended that Otero sentence the doctor to almost 20 years behind bars, but the judge decided against sending the defendant to "die
in custody.''

Instead, Otero imposed a prison term that will "allow him to spend the last years of his life out of custody and with his wife.''

The defendant was arrested last year at his Westlake clinic along with two employees—Rosemary Mendoza, 76, of West Covina, and Santiago Mendoza,
83, of Corona.

Santiago Mendoza pleaded guilty and will be sentenced later this year. Rosemary Mendoza entered into a diversion agreement with the government, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

—City News Service