Orange County Psychiatrist Sentenced to More than Four Years in Federal Prison for Writing Illegal Opioid Prescriptions to Drug Dealer

          SANTA ANA, California – A psychiatrist who practiced at a Santa Ana clinic has been sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for issuing prescriptions for dangerous and addictive narcotics, such as the opioid oxycodone, without a medical purpose, to a drug dealer in exchange for cash, knowing the drugs would be sold on the street.

          Dr. Robert Tinoco Perez, 57, of Westminster, was sentenced at a hearing on Monday afternoon by United States District Judge Andrew J. Guilford. Perez pleaded guilty on February 25 to one felony count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

          Perez wrote prescriptions for “patients” he had never met or examined, including an undercover officer. Perez also created fictitious medical records for drug customers to provide justification for their prescriptions.

          Perez used bogus patient names to write the fraudulent prescriptions to co-defendant William Jason Plumley, 41, of Huntington Beach, who sold the prescribed drugs – and also heroin and methamphetamine – to an undercover law enforcement officer. Plumley now is serving a 70-month federal prison sentence for selling prescriptions written by Perez as well as the drugs filled from Perez’s prescriptions. Plumley pleaded guilty in October 2018 to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

          The drugs prescribed illegally by Perez included oxycodone and hydrocodone (both opioid pain medications), amphetamine salts (sold primarily under the brand name Adderall), and alprazolam (sold primarily under the brand name Xanax).

          Perez admitted in his plea agreement that between December 2017 and January 2018, he wrote prescriptions for fictitious patients for 240 pills of Adderall, 300 pills of Roxicodone (oxycodone), and 250 pills of Norco (hydrocodone). Perez sold the prescriptions to Plumley for at least $1,400, according to Perez’s plea agreement.

          This case is part of Operation Hypocritical Oath, a series of investigations led by the Drug Enforcement Administration targeting medical professionals with criminal charges, search warrants, and administrative actions that have led to the revocation of DEA licenses.

          This case is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Costa Mesa Police Department.

          The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rosalind Wang of the Santa Ana Branch Office.