Granada Hills man gets home detention in massive oxycodone scheme

Granada Hills man gets home detention in massive oxycodone scheme

by City News Service

A Granada Hills man was sentenced Monday to 12 months of home detention 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.

Prosecutors had recommended a one-year sentence split between prison and home detention. U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez instead granted the defense motion for three years of probation including a year of home detention.

Prosecutors said Matosyan’s elder brother, nicknamed “Maserati Mike,” ran the 13-member 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.

“I want to start a new chapter in my life,” the defendant told the court before sentencing.

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, authorities said. Some 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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