A Chula Vista man pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to distribute a powerful pain medication in a “pill mill” operation in which a doctor prescribed painkillers to phony patients.
David D. Apple, 27, was the only South Bay resident to be indicted two years ago by a federal grand jury out of eight people charged in U.S. District Court. He is also the last person in the group to plead guilty.
Apple appeared before visiting U.S. Magistrate Michael J. Seng who set sentencing for June 15 before U.S. Judge Cynthia Bashant. Seng allowed Apple to remain free on $20,000 bond.
Apple signed a 14-page plea agreement that says he could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, said Seng.
Apple worked for Dr. Egisto Salerno, 75, who operated a medical office on El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego. Salerno pleaded guilty Jan. 21 to distribution of hydrocodone, which is also known as Vicodin, Norco, and Lortab.
Salerno faces 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on May 11. Salerno remains free on $100,000 bond.
“We will continue to zealously pursue doctors who write opioid or other prescriptions that are plainly outside their professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer in a press release after Salerno pleaded guilty.
“Even a medical degree does not put one above the law,” said Brewer, who praised Drug Enforcement Administration agents and prosecutors who worked on the case.
“Because of pill mills operated by doctors like Egisto Salerno, our country has been devastated by the negative effects of prescription paid medication,” said DEA special agent John Callery.
From May, 2014, to May, 2017, Salerno wrote 6,816 prescriptions for hydrocodone for a total of 719,667 tablets, according to the indictment.
“Dr. Salerno’s medical career is over; he betrayed his oath to the medical community and his patients,” said Callery.
A man who died in 2015 had five prescriptions for the drug written for him. Other patient names included people who were in jail at the time the prescriptions were written or homeless people who never saw the doctor, according to the indictment.
Apple allegedly falsified patient chart notes as a medical assistant. Others recruited patients to Salerno’s office.
An undercover federal agent visited Salerno’s clinic on six occasions and received seven prescriptions, including one for a visit that did not occur, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. People who obtained prescriptions often cursory or no physical examinations in their visits, the indictment says.
