The owner of multiple marijuana clinics admitted Wednesday to forging a doctor’s signature and fraudulently using the doctor’s name and license number to write fake medical marijuana prescriptions. The 72-year-old man, Nelson Leone, will be sentenced September 14, 2015. He faces up to a $250,000 fine and five years in prison.

Prosecutors stated that Leone operated six clinics under the name Green Cross Evaluations throughout San Diego, including locations on Park Boulevard, Mission Valley, Sports Arena, and Pacific Beach. The former doctor purchased advertising touting the clinic’s customer service and amenities such as on-site ATMs, walk-in services, and discounted rates for first-time patients. In the ads he made it clear that his clinics were “consumer friendly.” He also advertised the his clinics offered access to a “licensed physician.”

According to prosecutors, five of the six clinics did not have a licensed doctor on staff. He employed Dr. Arnold Kaplan, a licensed physician, at one of his clinics to meet with customers and issue medical marijuana recommendations. Without Kaplan’s knowledge, Leone also issued medical marijuana recommendations at his five other clinics using Kaplan’s signature and physician license number. Those recommendations falsely stated that the patient was evaluated and suffered from a condition that “may benefit from the use of medical marijuana.”

Leone agreed to shut down all six of his clinics as part of his plea.

Leone was once licensed as a physician in California in 1973. He practiced as a psychiatrist in San Diego for 20 years when misconduct charges were filed against him by four of his former patients. After 38 days of administrative hearings, the Administrative Law Judge recommended that his license be revoked in 1995 for gross negligence, dishonesty, excessive prescribing practices, and aiding and abetting another in the unlicensed practice of psychology. In 2008 he filed a Petition for Penalty Relief claiming he had rehabilitated himself.  The Office of the Attorney General recommended against granting the petition arguing that Leone’s testimony was full of distortion, misrepresentation, and outright fabrication. After a hearing, the Administrative Law Judge denied his Petition in February 2012.