![]() ![]() Maximum Penalties: Twenty years in prison and $1 million fine Age: 75 San Diego, Californiaĭistribution of Hydrocodone in violation of Title 21 U.S.C. ![]() District Judge Cynthia Bashant who will sentence Salerno on May 11, 2020.Įgisto Salerno, M.D. The guilty plea was entered before, and accepted by, U.S. The plea agreements of the six other defendants show that paid patient “recruiters” were bringing “patients,” many of whom were homeless, to Salerno’s office to secure hydrocodone prescriptions that, after the prescriptions were written, the “patients” were brought to pharmacies to fill the prescriptions “patients” turned over their hydrocodone tablets to the recruiters in exchange for payment and, in some instances, recruiters picked up the tablets from the pharmacies themselves and, in turn, those hydrocodone pills were being sold by the lead recruiter in San Diego and that such pills were also smuggled into Mexico and sold to a pharmacy there. Salerno is the seventh defendant to enter a guilty plea in connection with the pending case that flowed from the investigation of this “pill mill.” Each of the defendants is awaiting sentencing. During this period, Salerno also acknowledged that he pre-signed prescriptions and often allowed his non-physician employees to complete those prescriptions and that, with regard to one of the multiple dead “patients,” his signature appeared on at least five prescriptions made out in the “patient’s” name that were issued and filled more than a year after the “patient” died. ![]() ![]() Salerno used his medical practice on El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego to carry out this criminal activity between November 2014 and February 2018, the plea agreement said. In a separate instance, on a date when the undercover agent did not visit the clinic and the doctor did not see him, Salerno acknowleged that a prescription was written in the name used by the undercover agent and that Salerno completed and signed a progress note in the “patient” chart for the purported visit that did not occur. Salerno also admitted that an undercover federal agent who visited Salerno’s clinic on six occasions received six hydrocodone prescriptions containing Salerno’s signature. DEA and our partners will continue to conduct these investigations to ensure doctors are following the rules set forth when prescribing potentially deadly drugs.” Salerno’s medical career is over he betrayed his oath to the medical community and his patients. Today’s guilty plea is testament to their teamwork and dedication in thwarting the opioid crisis in the San Diego area. “Because of pill mills operated by doctors like Egisto Salerno, our country has been devastated by the negative effects of prescription pain medication,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge John W. “Even a medical degree does not put one above the law.” Brewer praised prosecutors Larry Casper and Victor White and DEA agents for their commitment to achieving justice in this case. “We will continue to zealously pursue doctors who write opioid or other prescriptions that are plainly outside their professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose,” said U.S. Salerno admitted that his prescriptions for the 10 mg tablets were outside the usual course of his medical practice and were without a legitimate medical purpose. Hydrocodone is an opioid pain medication commonly known as Norco or Vicodin. SAN DIEGO – Egisto Salerno, a medical doctor practicing in San Diego, pleaded guilty to opioid distribution in federal court today, admitting that he signed bogus prescriptions for multiple deceased or incarcerated patients.Īccording to his plea agreement, Salerno, 75, illegally distributed 78,544 hydrocodone pills. ![]()
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