A Maryland man was sentenced to 65 months in federal prison for leading a scheme that used stolen physician identities to submit thousands of fraudulent e-prescriptions for controlled substances, according to a Jan. 14 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
What happened?
- Between September 2020 and May 2023, Benjamin Washington and his co-conspirators stole personal identifying information from dozens of physicians, including DEA registration numbers, and used it to impersonate the doctors and open fraudulent e-prescribing accounts.
- They used fake driver’s licenses and SIM swap fraud to intercept phone verifications, then submitted at least 5,600 illegal prescriptions for opioids and other controlled drugs.
- Mr. Washington and others traveled across the country to pick up the drugs, including in the Los Angeles area, and sold them for profit. In May 2022, he also stole at least 30 checks from mailboxes in Bethesda, Md., and unlawfully possessed a U.S. Postal Service arrow key.
- Mr. Washington pleaded guilty in September 2025 to one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
