United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The United States has filed a civil complaint against nurse practitioner Joan Rubinger, registered in Stockton, that alleges a long-running nationwide scheme to sell illegal opioid prescriptions for cash, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris announced.

The lawsuit asks the Court to prohibit Rubinger from prescribing controlled substances and to impose civil penalties on Rubinger for her conduct in providing more than 900 illegitimate prescriptions to customers around the country.

According to court documents, between Nov. 1, 2019, and June 17, 2024, Rubinger traveled from city to city, providing a range of services from intravenous flushes to prescriptions for controlled substances. Her unorthodox practice consisted of her, a personal assistant, and a person who managed billing. No licensed physician supervises Rubinger, and no licensed physician is associated with, or employed by, her practice. She usually met customers in non-medical environments, such as hotel rooms, without access to necessary diagnostic tools, proper medical records, or any other infrastructure required to treat chronic pain.

According to the complaint, Rubinger sold opioid prescriptions to her customers for cash, often during brief text message conversations over the encrypted messaging application Telegram. The complaint alleges that Rubinger provided her customers with price lists that invited them to select their own prescriptions from a menu of highly addictive drugs intended to treat a wide variety of medical conditions, including Oxycodone, Percocet, Xanax, and Adderall, some of which can be dangerous in combination. Once customers paid Rubinger, she allegedly issued the requested prescriptions without conducting any examination or creating any medical records. The complaint further alleges that, to conceal the excessive quantities of drugs that she prescribed to her customers, Rubinger wrote prescriptions in the names of the customers’ friends and family members, many of whom did not consent to participate in Rubinger’s scheme, which allowed the customers to obtain opioids under false names. Many of Rubinger’s customers allegedly abused the drugs or resold them on the street. 

According to court documents, Rubinger knew her conduct was illegal and gave her customers specific instructions that she told them would “make sure each patient appears as a legitimate medical patient.” In a document that she titled “THE RULES,” Rubinger explained to new customers the steps they had to take “to minimize the attention we attract from the DEA.” Among other things, Rubinger told customers they were required to pay her for prescriptions in advance because “just like at McDonald’s, you gotta pay for your burger before they hand it to you.”

The investigation and litigation of this matter illustrates the government’s continued emphasis on combating opioid abuse. Tips and complaints from all sources can be reported to the DEA at 1-877-792-2873 or https://www.dea.gov/submit-tip. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Tennyson is litigating the case. The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The complaint contains allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability. The case is United States v. Rubinger, 2:25-cv-00091-DAD-JDP (E.D. Cal.)