United States Drug Enforcement Administration

LOS ANGELES - Four individuals, including a former physician, were taken into custody on felony fraud charges in connection with a complex scheme investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to print thousands of fake prescriptions bearing the names of legitimate doctors, ultimately sold on the streets of Los Angeles.
 
Michael McBay, a former medical doctor, was arrested late last night for his role in the operation, which included the theft of legitimate physician identities that were passed to principals of a now defunct printing company.  Another defendant, Shauna Noreen Sepulveda, apprehended this morning at her residence, would then print the counterfeit prescriptions at the company, Chicago Printing and Embossing, which has since shut down.  A third defendant, Kyn Kay Naope, was in custody on charges he possessed numerous prescriptions printed at the company.  Another, Nikolay Machevsky, has also been booked.  All the defendants will be arraigned in Los Angeles County Superior Court on charges of obtaining a controlled substance prescription by fraud.
 
“Today’s arrests demonstrate that DEA and its law enforcement partners will not tolerate creative rackets that profit from the epidemic of painkiller addiction,” said Anthony D. Williams, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Los Angeles Field Division.

The prescriptions, often filled out for highly addictive opioids such as Oxycodone, would bear the name, address and DEA registration number of actual doctors.  The listed phone numbers, however, were routed to criminal associates who would screen calls from pharmacies attempting to verify the prescription, often impersonating the listed doctor.

Also participating in this investigation were the California Department of Justice Medical Fraud Team and the Los Angeles Police Department.   The case, filed under docket number BA433343, is being prosecuted by DDA John Niederman of the Major Narcotics Division, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.