Las Vegas Doctor Sentenced To 46 Months In Prison For Writing Unlawful Oxycodone Prescriptions
LAS VEGAS - Victor Bruce, M.D., 49, who operates Swan Lake Medical Center in Las Vegas, was sentenced this afternoon to 46 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release for writing prescriptions for oxycodone for persons he did not see or treat.
Bruce, who pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon. Bruce was permitted to self-report to federal prison by Jan. 16, 2015.
“Dr. Bruce repeatedly wrote prescriptions for highly addictive controlled substances for patients who did not need them, and for patients who did not appear at his medical practice or did not exist,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden. “We continue to work with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to put illegal pill-pusher doctors like Dr. Bruce in prison and out of business.”
According to Bruce’s guilty plea agreement, he represents himself to be a pain management specialist and is the only physician working at the practice. Beginning at a date unknown and continuing to around November 2013, Bruce and several co-conspirators, including Robert Wolfe, aka “old man,” Millicent Epino, Dylan DuBois, Jennifer Monge, and Jade Lepoma, conspired to distribute oxycodone. Wolfe would provide Bruce a list of names, and Bruce would write prescriptions for oxycodone for those names and give them to Wolfe. Bruce also created “dummy” medical records for those persons, to make it appear as if a legitimate patient encounter had taken place.
On four occasions in June 2013, an undercover law enforcement officer purchased Bruce-written oxycodone prescriptions from Wolfe for $700 each. On each occasion, the undercover provided Wolfe or another co-conspirator with copies of Nevada driver’s licenses bearing the names of customers. Usually within a day, Wolfe or another co-conspirator would then provide the undercover with written prescriptions for oxycodone. Bruce knew he was writing prescriptions for controlled substances to customers he did not treat and who did not need the prescriptions. None of the prescriptions were issued for a legitimate medical purpose or in the usual course of professional practice.
According to the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners, Bruce’s license to practice medicine in Nevada is still active; however, there is a pending board action against him related to the unlawful administering, dispensing or prescribing of controlled substances.
Wolfe and several of the other co-conspirators were also charged in the drug conspiracy.
This case was investigated by the Nevada High Intensity Drug Trafficking (Nevada HIDTA) Pharm-Net Task Force, including the DEA, IRS Criminal Investigation, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Henderson Police Department, North Las Vegas Police Department, and the Nevada Division of Investigations.
