4 Southlanders Named In OC- Based Prescription Cream Scheme

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA —An Anaheim Hills man and a Pacific Palisades woman were arrested Wednesday on federal charges of money laundering, mail fraud, and kickbacks, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Federal prosecutors say the scheme involved a prescription cream that cost union health insurance plans over $22 million.

Two other defendants named in a grand jury indictment, and are expected to surrender to authorities on Wednesday, according to Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The alleged scheme involves Orange County-based Professional Compounding Pharmacy, which operated in La Habra and Brea, Mrozek said.

The indictment alleges health care fraud, mail fraud, kickbacks, and money laundering in a scheme to generate prescriptions for medically unnecessary compound medications, which in some instances cost as much as $15,000 per tube, Mrozek said.

Two phony "pain clinics" in Lawndale and National City were allegedly involved in the scheme to recruit beneficiaries of the TRICARE and International Longshore and Warehouse Union's Pacific Maritime Association Welfare Plan, Mrozek said.

Beneficiaries of the plan were paid $200 to see doctors conducting phony pain studies on the creams, prosecutors alleged. Medical professionals and marketers were paid kickbacks to write prescriptions, prosecutors allege.

The four defendants named in the indictment are:

• James Nate Bell, 38, of Anaheim Hills, who owns Professional Compounding Pharmacy
• Regina Piehl, 66, of Pacific Palisades
• Dr. Michael Edwards, 52, of Huntington Beach
• Sara Samhat, 45, of Huntington Beach.

Federal agents arrested Bell and Piehl Tuesday. Edwards and Samhat were expected to surrender Wednesday morning in Santa Ana.

Prosecutors say TRICARE lost about $19 million, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union plan lost about $3 million.