A Chula Vista man who helped a doctor unlawfully distribute powerful pain medications to fake patients in what authorities called a “pill mill” operation was sentenced Dec. 2 to three years in federal prison.
David D. Apple, 27, was the only South Bay resident who was charged in a grand jury indictment in 2018 out of eight people charged in U.S. District Court. He was also the last person in the group to be sentenced.
Apple will surrender to prison by March 3 as Judge Cynthia Bashant allowed him to remain free on $20,000 bond. He could have received a 20-year prison term.
Apple pleaded guilty March 17 to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute pain medications to various people. He served as the doctor’s medical assistant.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Casper requested a 41-month term. Apple’s attorney asked for no more than 30 months. Bashant ordered Apple to pay a $100 penalty assessment fee, but ordered no restitution.
Apple worked for Dr. Egisto Salerno, 76, 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 was sentenced Oct. 26 to 18 months in prison. Salerno will surrender later to prison and he was allowed to remain free on $100,000 bond.
U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer described Salerno as a “corrupt doctor who blatantly ignores his medical oath and the best interests” of patients. An undercover officer visited Salerno six times and always got a prescription for hydrocodone including once with no appointment, according to the indictment.
Some of the patients’ names were false and it is unknown who they were. One deceased patient kept getting refills for hydrocodone. Some of the pills were delivered to a pharmacy in Mexico for cash.
From May, 2014, to May, 2017, Salerno wrote 6,816 prescriptions for hydrocodone for a total of 719,667 tablets, according to the indictment.
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. Some received prescriptions with often only for a cursory or even no physical exam by the doctor.
