OAKLAND — A Bay Area dentist was sentenced to one year of federal supervised release, avoiding jail or prison altogether, to resolve charges that he distributed prescriptions for opiate painkillers in exchange for cocaine from two Antioch drug dealers.
Dr. Alireza Moheb was sentenced earlier this month by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, after pleading guilty to a federal drug conspiracy count. The sentence was agreed upon by prosecutors, who noted that the “mitigating” factors behind Moheb’s crime — like his own struggles with addiction — warranted leniency.
Moheb was charged in 2021 with writing prescriptions for approximately 555 Norco pills two men who were involved in a drug ring. His co-defendants are identified in court records as Kevin Ramirez and Ramon De La Torre Ramos, and Moheb wrote in an apology letter that Ramirez offered him cocaine after Moheb complained of his own chronic pain while Ramirez was doing home construction for him.
Moheb wrote a lengthy apology letter in which he stated that his own issues with chronic pain inhibited his ability to practice medicine and destabilized his life. He said Ramirez recommended cocaine as a painkiller and he agreed to write false prescriptions out of desperation, adding that he didn’t know the pills would be redistributed.
“I am certainly sorry for my actions. Not simply because I got arrested and charged, but because I now understand that my co-defendants may have been distributing the controlled substances I prescribed for them to other people,” Moheb wrote. “As an addict myself, I can appreciate the danger that their distribution may have caused the community.”
In court papers, federal drug agents accused Moheb of taking steps to avoid detection that his prescription slips were bogus, and noted that in November 2019, when a pharmacist rejected one of Moheb’s prescriptions for codeine syrup, Moheb angrily texted one of the alleged co-conspirators that he was having his staff file a complaint.
The case against Ramirez remains active. Ramos pleaded guilty to a drug offense last March, and is currently awaiting sentencing, according to court records.