A Riverside County man pleaded guilty Monday to stealing identifying information from doctors to get prescription opioids to sell online, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Christopher Lazenby, 29, of Homeland, stole the identities of at least nine doctors and one physician’s assistant, then used their government-issued ID numbers to write prescriptions for controlled substances, authorities said.
The man, who faces a maximum sentence of life in federal prison, used fake names and forged the doctors’ signatures on counterfeit prescriptions to get oxycodone, hydrocodone and Adderall sent to mailboxes he controlled in South Los Angeles and Carson, as well as to a motel in Inglewood, authorities said.
After receiving the drugs, Lazenby listed them for sale on the dark web and on Craigslist, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Lazenby was arrested on Oct. 3, 2018, at a hotel room in Torrance that he booked under an alias, authorities said.
Officers searched his hotel room and car, and seized 196 grams of methamphetamine and oxycodone pills, as well as prescription pads in the names of the doctors whose identities he’s suspected of stealing, rubber stamps with the doctors’ names and computer equipment, according to the news release.
Lazenby pleaded to two federal drug trafficking charges of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and oxycodone, according to the Department of Justice. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 10, 2020.
