Raif Wadie Iskander, Oxycodone Conspiracy, California 2020

Former physician assistant Raif Wadie Iskander sentenced to 46 months in prison for conspiring to issue and sell oxycodone prescriptions to known drug dealers.

A former physician assistant at a Fountain Valley medical clinic was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for his role in a scheme to issue and sell oxycodone prescriptions to known drug dealers. Raif Wadie Iskander, 56, formerly of Ladera Ranch but now residing in Ennis, Montana, was sentenced by United States District Judge James V. Selna on March 24, 2023, for conspiring to distribute oxycodone.

Iskander pleaded guilty in November 2020 to one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. From 2018 to April 2019, Iskander, who was a licensed physician assistant in California, wrote prescriptions for purported “patients” he had never met or examined. Iskander provided to drug dealers multiple paper prescriptions that he had signed, but with the patient names left blank, to be filled in by drug dealers later.

In exchange for cash, Iskander wrote fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions for co-defendant Johnny Gilbert Alvarez, 42, a.k.a. “M.J.,” of Santa Ana, who sold the prescribed drugs on the street as well as to an undercover officer. Iskander knew that the oxycodone filled from the prescriptions would be sold to drug customers who were not using the oxycodone for legitimate medical purposes and whom he had never met or examined.

Alvarez pleaded guilty in November 2021 to one count of distribution of methamphetamine and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13. The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Costa Mesa Police Department, and the California Department of Health Care Services investigated the matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Rosalind Wang of the Santa Ana Branch Office prosecuted this case. Iskander’s 46-month sentence is a significant blow to the opioid epidemic. His actions put countless lives at risk, and we hope that this sentence serves as a warning to others who would engage in similar conduct.

The case highlights the dangers of prescription opioid abuse and the importance of holding individuals accountable for their actions. We will continue to work tirelessly to combat the opioid crisis and bring those responsible to justice.

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