A Maryland man has admitted to orchestrating a sweeping fraud scheme that relied on the stolen identities of medical doctors to churn out thousands of illegal prescriptions, some of which were filled at pharmacies in the Los Angeles area, federal prosecutors announced.
Benjamin Jamal Washington, 25, of Hyattsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. He remains in federal custody.
The case against Washington stretches back nearly three years. Between September 2020 and May 2023, prosecutors said, Washington and his co-conspirators obtained personal information from dozens of licensed physicians. The stolen details included names, birthdates, addresses, phone numbers, National Provider Identification numbers and Drug Enforcement Administration registration numbers.
Armed with that data, the group manufactured fake driver’s licenses and turned to corrupt telephone company employees to carry out illegal SIM swaps. By hijacking the doctors’ phone numbers, they were able to open fraudulent e-prescribing accounts under the physicians’ names, investigators said.
To refine the ruse, at least one member of the group contacted a pharmacy technician, asking questions to better understand how legitimate doctors typically submitted prescriptions. That inside knowledge, prosecutors noted, allowed the conspirators to avoid detection.
By the time the operation was uncovered, Washington and his accomplices had issued more than 5,600 fraudulent prescriptions for controlled substances, including oxycodone and promethazine with codeine. Pharmacies across the United States filled the prescriptions, and the drugs were later sold for profit, according to investigators.
Washington is now awaiting sentencing. U.S. District Judge Wesley L. Hsu has set the hearing for January 13, 2026. The 25-year-old faces a statutory maximum sentence of 42 years in prison, including a mandatory two-year consecutive term for aggravated identity theft.
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