SANTA ANA– On August 27, 2019, a physician assistant at a Fountain Valley clinic was arrested on an 11-count federal grand jury indictment charging him with conspiring to issue prescriptions for the highly addictive opioid painkiller oxycodone, without a medical purpose, to drug dealers in exchange for cash, knowing the drugs would be sold on the street. Raif Wadie Iskander, 53, was arrested at his home in Ladera Ranch.
“Kudos to the investigators and agents who put a stop to this suspected illegal drug dealing,” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA). “We trust our medical professionals will adhere to their oath and not cause harm to individuals and communities by selling prescriptions for highly addictive pain medication without a medical purpose.”
According to the indictment, from October 2018 until April 2019, Iskander wrote prescriptions for “patients” he had never met or examined, including an undercover law enforcement officer. Iskander allegedly provided to drug brokers multiple paper prescriptions that he had signed, but with the patient names left blank, to be filled in by the drug brokers later.
In exchange for cash, Iskander allegedly wrote fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions to co-defendants Johnny Gilbert Alvarez, 39, a.k.a. “M.J.,” of Santa Ana, and Adam Anton Roggero, 36, of Costa Mesa, who sold the prescribed drugs on the street as well as to an undercover officer.
Iskander is charged with one count of conspiracy and two counts of intentionally distributing oxycodone without a medical purpose. If convicted of all charges, Iskander faces a statutory maximum sentence of 60 years in federal prison.
Alvarez is charged with one count of conspiracy and faces felony counts of illegally distributing methamphetamine, fentanyl, and oxycodone. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment if convicted of all charges.
Roggero is charged with one count of conspiracy and two felony drug distribution counts. If convicted, he faces a statutory maximum sentence of 60 years in prison.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Costa Mesa Police Department, and the California Department of Health Care Services.
