O.C. Doctor Who Illegally Prescribed Addictive Pain Medications, Often Meeting With Patients At Starbucks, Gets 11¼-Year Sentence
SANTA ANA, Calif. - An Orange County physician who admitted that he illegally prescribed dangerous, addictive painkillers to “patients” he barely examined during meetings that were often held at Starbucks stores was sentenced late today to over 11 years in federal prison.
Alvin Mingczech Yee, 44, of Mission Viejo, was sentenced this afternoon to 135 months in prison by United States District Judge Andrew J. Guilford.
Yee pleaded guilty in April to seven counts of illegal distribution of a controlled substance by a practitioner. Yee specifically admitted that he prescribed drugs, such as oxycodone and alprazolam, “while intentionally acting outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.”
According to court documents previously filed in this case, Yee met with numerous “patients,” including three undercover operatives, during evening meetings at Starbucks across Orange County, where he wrote prescriptions for drugs best known by brand names such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Xanax.
The investigation of Yee was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which received the assistance of the Orange Police Department, the Huntington Beach Police Department and the California Medical Board.
