Los Angeles

Sentencing Due for Granada Hills Man Who Distributed Oxycodone

A Granada Hills man faces possible prison time on Monday for his role in a scheme that used sham pop-up clinics to divert millions of prescription pills -- including oxycodone and other addictive narcotics -- to the street.

Hayk Matosyan, 32, pleaded guilty in April to a single count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, a federal charge carrying a sentence of up to 20 years behind bars, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors are recommending a one-year sentence split between prison and home detention. The defense is expected to argue for 12 months of home detention.

Prosecutors said Matosyan's elder brother, nicknamed "Maserati Mike," ran the 13-defendant operation by hiring corrupt doctors who allowed conspirators to issue fraudulent prescriptions under their names in exchange for kickbacks. Hayk Matosyan acted as a courier, helping deliver fraudulent prescriptions and bulk quantities of narcotic pills, federal prosecutors said.

Members of the conspiracy profited from illicit prescriptions that were issued without any legitimate medical purpose through a series of clinics that periodically opened and closed in a nomadic style, according to the indictment returned in summer 2017 against the Matosyans and 11 others -- including Glendale-based criminal defense attorney Fred Minassian.

The phony prescriptions allowed the conspirators to obtain bulk quantities of prescription drugs that were sold on the street.

Members of the scheme were charged with such crimes as conspiracy and obstruction of justice

for allegedly creating fraudulent medical records in an effort to deter the investigation.

Minassian and others face trial in April.

Minas "Maserati Mike" Matosyan, 38, of Encino -- who pleaded guilty along with his younger brother -- is scheduled to be sentenced in December in downtown Los Angeles.

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