VENTURA COUNTY INTERAGENCY PHARMACEUTICAL CRIMES UNIT
News Story Release
Nature of Incident: Forged Prescription in Camarillo Leads to 13 Arrests
Report Number: 15-13778
Location: Ventura County, CA
Date & Time: April – September 2015
Unit(s) Responsible: Ventura County Interagency Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit
Camarillo Police Department
(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (P)arty, (D)ecedent City of Residence Age
(S) Kanard Mobley Downey 33
(S) Candice Fletcher Los Angeles 43
(S) James Brown Gardena 29
(S) Robert Blue Compton 50
(S) Anthony Dunlap Los Angeles 22
(S) Felix Giovani Los Angeles 31
(S) Samuel Lloyd San Pedro 26
(S) Gemmel Moore San Pedro 24
(S) John Anderson Compton 29
(S) Karapet Mnatsakanyan Van Nuys 31
(S) Hayrapet Amirkhanyan Van Nuys 28
(S) Alfred Bersegyan Glendale 31
(S) Grigor Nersisyan Los Angeles 26
Narrative:
On April 10, 2015, Camarillo Police Department Deputies responded to a call of a forgery in progress at a local pharmacy. Deputies contacted Kanard Mobley and arrested him for attempting to pass a forged prescription for very expensive HIV medication (upwards of $6,000 a bottle). Mobley was booked into custody at the Ventura County Main Jail and was released when he secured bail.
Investigators from the Ventura County Interagency Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit followed up on the investigation and learned that Mobley continued committing forgeries upon his release in April. Investigators discovered Mobley, his girlfriend Candice Fletcher, and their friend James Brown III had passed nearly 300 forged prescriptions, in 161 names, for HIV medication worth over $1,000,000 throughout Southern California. Mobley was making his own prescriptions and utilizing unsuspecting doctors’ names on the prescription forms. He would then use Medi-Cal insurance numbers that he received from friends and family and fill the prescriptions at no cost. Detectives arrested Mobley and Fletcher and an arrest warrant with a $1,000,000 bail attached was issued for James Brown III.
Detectives continued their investigation and identified Robert Blue, Felix Giovani, and Anthony Dunlap as individuals to whom Mobley was selling the illegally acquired medication. Search warrants were served at Blue, Giovani, and Dunlaps’ residences in Compton and Los Angeles. Two guns and approximately 13,000 pills, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, were recovered. Samuel Lloyd and Gemmel Moore were also contacted during the service of the warrants and arrested for possession of methamphetamine.
Investigators then learned the HIV medications were being fenced through a smoke shop in Los Angeles located at 15031 Ventura Blvd. On September 17, 2015, Detectives served a search warrant at the smoke shop and recovered a handgun and another 9,000 pills. Karapet Mnatsakanyan, Hayrapet Amirkhanyan, Alfred Bersegyan, and Grigor Nersisyan were arrested for charges related to conspiracy to commit forgery and sales of dangerous drugs. They are all currently in custody with a bail set at $500,000.
Kanard Mobley pleaded guilty to forgery and was sentenced to three years in county jail. Candice Fletcher pleaded guilty to forgery and is pending sentencing. The rest of the defendants are in various stages of the court process.
The total fraud in this case is estimated to be in the millions of dollars. The total value of the seized drugs is about one million dollars. The investigation is ongoing as to other individuals and pharmacies involved in this case. The investigation revealed the medications initially purchased by Mobley were never meant to be used by him for treatment of HIV, but were instead meant to be ultimately sold back to criminally operating pharmacies who would buy the drugs off the street for resale.
The East County Narcotics Street Team as well as other specialized units in the Sheriff’s Office assisted in this investigation. The Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigation also assisted.
The Ventura County Interagency Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit is a task force made up of members from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, Simi Valley Police Department, Thousand Oaks Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation, the California Highway Patrol, and the Health Quality Investigation Unit of the California Division of Investigation. The primary mission of the task force is combatting the transfer of legal prescription medication to the illegal market. In addition, the task force works to identify and stop new trends of abuse among the younger population and investigates overdose deaths due to both prescription medication and illicit drug use. Information regarding criminal activity may be emailed to [email protected] or called in to (805) 383-8700.
Prepared by: Sergeant Victor Fazio
News Release Date: September 18, 2015
Media Follow-Up Contact: Detective Corey Nicholas
(805) 947 8285
[email protected]
Approved by: Captain Curt Rothschiller
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