David Lague, a physician’s assistant who formerly practiced in San Leandro, was convicted of thirty-nine counts of distributing oxycodone, oxymorphone, methadone, amphetamines, clonazepam, fentanyl, hydromorphone, morphine, hydrocodone, alprazolam, and carisoprodol outside the course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose,
Lague was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2017, and charged with thirty-six counts of distributing Schedule II controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice without a legitimate medical purpose, three counts of distributing Schedule IV controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice without a legitimate medical purpose, one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and six counts of health care fraud.
Evidence at trial showed that Lague was the number one prescriber of opioids in the state of California in 2015 and 2016, according to Medicare’s records. Lague prescribed over 1.6 million controlled substance pills, of which over 1.4 million were in the most dangerous and abused category (designated by the DEA as Schedule II), in 2016.
Undercover videotapes showed Lague prescribing pills to an informant without asking any questions about the patient’s health or performing any physical examinations.
Further recordings showed that, when the informant asked Lague to double his oxycodone prescription to allow him to sell the extra pills for $6,000, Lague proceeded to provide the prescription, along with suggestions on how to avoid detection by the pharmacy or insurance provider.
The guilty verdict followed an eleven-day jury trial. The jury found that Lague had prescribed oxycodone pills on two occasions to a patient who had informed Lague that he intended to sell the pills to make a profit. In addition, the jury concluded that Lague had prescribed potent and highly addictive controlled substances to four other patients in a manner that he knew was not medically legitimate. The jury acquitted Lague of health care fraud charges in connection with his fentanyl prescriptions to one of the four patients.
Following his conviction, Lague was remanded to the custody of the United States Marshals Service. Defendant’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 22, 2018.