A former Antelope Valley physician was sentenced on March 4 to 3 years and 1 month in federal prison for dispensing illegal prescriptions for commonly abused controlled substances, including opioid-based medications, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Raphael Tomas Malikian, 39, a Llano and Palmdale resident, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of aiding and abetting the acquisition of a controlled substance by fraud and one count of distribution of oxycodone, the statement said.

“Considering the nature and circumstances of these offenses, there is no question that [Malikian’s] criminal conduct is serious and that the scope of [his] diversion scheme was expansive,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “The amount of drugs that [Malikian] prescribed without any medical justification is substantial and contributed to this country’s opioid crisis.”

Mr. Malikian was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer, who ordered him to pay a $20,000 fine.

Mr. Malikian was a licensed physician in California from at least December 2019 to August 2021 and was authorized by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prescribe medication. He had his license suspended by the Medical Board of California in November 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He also owned and operated the Happy Family Medicine clinic, through which he primarily offered telehealth services via phone or text messages.

According to prosecutors, Mr. Malikian provided prescriptions for controlled substances illegally without following protocol.

“Malikian issued prescriptions for controlled substances to customers without first obtaining the person’s full medical history, conducting a physical examination, requiring medical testing, or utilizing diagnostic tools. Malikian did not verify his customers’ identities before prescribing controlled substances, and he allowed customers to obtain prescriptions in the names of others,” the statement said.

Mr. Malikian also collaborated with two colleagues to provide him false personal data to issue the prescriptions, which the co-conspirators then filled and re-sold on the black market.

The former doctor wrote notes on the prescriptions he issued telling pharmacies not to check the veracity of the prescription because the drugs were urgently needed and it could be life-threatening not to dispense them in the midst of the COVID pandemic, according to the statement.

Mr. Malikian wrote hundreds of false prescriptions. He issued more than 702 pills of 10-milligram oxycodone and 240 milliliters of promethazine with codeine to an undercover agent from April until June 2020.

From May to July 2020, he also prescribed 234 pills of the painkiller Norco and 180 pills of the anxiety drug alprazolam, also known as Xanax, to another individual who was also an undercover agent.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittney M. Harris of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section prosecuted the case and the DEA was in charge of its investigation.