Los Angeles physician convicted of 13 felonies
The Associated PressA Los Angeles physician who investigators call the second "most prolific provider" of prescription drugs in the country has been convicted of 13 felony counts.
A Superior Court jury deliberated for two days before convicting 68-year-old Carlos Estiandan of unlawfully prescribing controlled substances Monday.
The Drug Enforcement Administration didn't specify how many prescriptions Estiandan gave out. But it says he was second only to a hospital — Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore — in the total number of prescriptions written in 2008.
Estiandan came to the attention of the DEA in a statewide database that tracks prescriptions issued by physicians.
Authorities say an undercover sheriff's deputy obtained 12 prescriptions from Estiandan without ever being examined, as part of a three-year investigation.
Estiandan faces up to 11 years in state prison.