Nature of Incident: Local Doctor Charged in Drug Distribution Scheme
Report Number: 12-2122
Location: Ventura, CA
Date & Time: 2011-2013
Unit(s) Responsible: Ventura County Combined Agency Taskforce and Ventura County Interagency Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit
(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (P)arty, (D)ecedent City of Residence Age
(S) Dr. Terry Stanger Agoura Hills 67
Narrative:
The Ventura County Combined Agency Taskforce and the Ventura County Interagency Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit recently concluded a several year investigation into local Doctor Terry Stanger. A criminal case was presented to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office which alleged over prescribing of opiate, anti-depressant, and other controlled medications absent a legitimate medical purpose from his Ventura Office, as well as violations of money laundering statutes. The investigation revealed Dr. Stanger was also mailing medications throughout the United States and Europe. Detectives seized over 25,000 pills of highly addictive medication that were sold or destined for sale outside the scope of normal professional practice. Investigators also seized hundreds of thousands of dollars of suspected ill-gotten proceeds from the criminal activity. Dr. Stanger’s activity came to the attention of local law enforcement when it was learned he was the source of supply for local drug dealers and several fatal overdoses were tied back to his prescriptions.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office filed a criminal complaint charging 15 felony counts ranging from drug dealing to money laundering. Dr. Stanger is scheduled to appear in court on February 19, 2014 to answer to these charges.
The Ventura County Combined Agency Taskforce is made up of narcotics detectives from all agencies within the county and representatives from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. VCAT’s mission is to conduct investigations and disrupt large scale drug distribution organizations.
The Ventura County Interagency Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit is comprised of members of law enforcement from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, Simi Valley Police Department, and the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation. The main mission of the unit is to stem the flow of prescription medication to the illegal market. A secondary, and related, mission is identifying and stopping new trends of non-traditional drug sales that target teenagers and young adults in Ventura County.
Prepared by: Sergeant Victor Fazio
Media Release Date: January 28, 2014
Follow-Up Contact: Sergeant Ron Chips
[email protected]
Approved by: Captain Curt Rothschiller
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