U.S. attorney indicts Fountain Valley clinic employee, Costa Mesa man on federal drug charges

A physician assistant who worked at a Fountain Valley clinic was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of selling oxycodone prescriptions to drug dealers.

Raif Wadie Iskander, 53, of Ladera Ranch is one of three Orange County residents facing charges related to distributing the painkiller for nonmedical purposes, the U.S. attorney’s office said Tuesday.

The federal indictment alleges Iskander wrote prescriptions for individuals he had never met or examined, including an undercover law enforcement officer, between October 2018 and April. Prosecutors also allege Iskander handed over signed paper prescriptions with the patient names left blank so drug brokers could fill them in later.

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Iskander also allegedly wrote fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions for two co-defendants — Adam Anton Roggero, 36, of Costa Mesa and Johnny Gilbert “M.J.” Alvarez, 39, of Santa Ana — in exchange for cash, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Roggero and Alvarez then sold the opiods on the street, including to an undercover officer, the indictment alleges.

All three men have been charged with one count of conspiracy, according to prosecutors.

Iskander also faces two counts of intentionally distributing oxycodone without a medical purpose.Roggero also has been charged with two felony drug distribution counts. And Alvarez faces felony counts of illegally distributing methamphetamine, fentanyl and oxycodone, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

If convicted as charged, Iskander and Roggero would face statutory maximum sentences of 60 years in prison; and Alvarez would face a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, prosecutors said.