A former physician hailing from the High Desert has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of illegally prescribing opioid painkillers and other commonly abused substances during brief telemedicine sessions with a convicted narcotics trafficker and individuals from all over the United States.
Raphael Malikian, a 38-year-old resident of Llano and Palmdale who operated under the name Happy Family Medicine, entered a plea of not guilty to updated federal charges. These charges include allegations that he distributed codeine-laced cough syrup, referred to as “purple drank,” to drug dealers who sold it in Texas and other locations, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A trial date had previously been set for October 17th in downtown Los Angeles.
According to federal prosecutors, Malikian distributed narcotics unlawfully “by engaging in activities outside the scope of professional practice and without a valid medical purpose.”
The superseding indictment, consisting of 18 counts, alleges that Malikian prescribed drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam, promethazine, and codeine to patients with whom he had minimal interaction.
The investigation by the DEA was initiated following numerous reports in February 2020 regarding suspicious prescriptions issued by Malikian. The indictment outlines specific incidents in which Malikian prescribed controlled substances without a valid medical reason, following seven telemedicine consultations, including one conducted solely through text messages, spanning from April to July 2020.
As per prosecutors, none of the consultations involved physical examinations or diagnostic tests, and the appointments lasted as short as two minutes and 20 seconds.
The investigation involved undercover operations where DEA and California Department of Justice agents posed as patients, receiving prescriptions that serve as the foundation for the indictment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The DEA agent responsible for the affidavit in the case concluded that Malikian “essentially sells prescriptions for controlled substances to patients upon request, without obtaining their medical history or conducting physical examinations.”
Allegedly, patient records maintained by Malikian showed that he saw patients from various parts of the United States. Furthermore, approximately 43% of these patients shared common addresses, email addresses, caregivers, or phone numbers with other patients, as noted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Among these patients was a convicted narcotics trafficker, and another individual was apprehended at Los Angeles International Airport while carrying over $19,000 in cash and approximately 1,764 hydrocodone and alprazolam pills, according to the affidavit.
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