Inland Empire Man Who Stole Doctors’ Identities to Obtain Medication Later Sold on Dark-net Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison

         LOS ANGELES – A Riverside County man was sentenced today to 120 months in federal prison for running a narcotics distribution outfit that, in part, stole at least nine doctors’ DEA numbers and dates of birth that he used to obtain oxycodone and other prescription medications that he later sold on the dark-net.

         Christopher Lazenby, 29, of Homeland, was sentenced by United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson.

         Lazenby pleaded guilty in September 2019 to a two-count criminal information charging him with possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine and oxycodone.

         Lazenby perpetrated his scheme by stealing the identities of at least nine doctors and one physician’s assistant. He then used the Drug Enforcement Administration’s online registration system to change the addresses of eight doctors to mailboxes he had rented in South Los Angeles and Carson. Lazenby changed the address of a ninth doctor to show his medical office was a room at a Motel 6 in Inglewood, according to court documents.

         With official records showing new addresses for the doctors, Lazenby forged the doctors’ signatures on counterfeit prescriptions and ordered oxycodone, hydrocodone and Adderall to be sent to the addresses he controlled, he admitted in a plea agreement. After he received the narcotics, Lazenby used the dark web and Craigslist to advertise the drugs for sale.

         Lazenby was arrested on October 3, 2018 at his hotel room in Torrance, which he had rented using an alias. During searches of his hotel room and car, law enforcement seized narcotics, including 196 grams of methamphetamine, oxycodone pills, prescription pads in the names of the identity theft victims, and rubber stamps in the names of the victim doctors.

         The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated this case.

         This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin R. Barron, Chief of the Santa Ana Branch Office.