Dr. Daniel Healy, 53, of Arcadia, pled guilty to one count of distribution of a controlled substance, the painkiller oxycodone. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced December 7.
Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested Dr. Daniel J. Healy, 52, of Arcadia, operator of Dr. Healy's Diet Centers and Clinics in Duarte and Rancho Cucamonga. He is accused of selling addictive painkillers from his office over a 3-year period to patients he often did not examine. Federal authorities allege Healy dispensed oxycodone and hydrocodone, among other drugs, essentially using his practice as a drug-dealing operation.
Forty-nine year old Arcadia man Terchi Liao, aka Nelson Liao, was allegedly running a Ponzi scheme, conning people nationwide into investing in two firms he controlled, AOB Commerce Inc. and AOB Asia Fund I LLC. A federal judge has frozen Liao's assets.
Arcadia doctor arrested. Dr. Badrudin Rajabali Kurwa was arrested on October 22 for alleged sexual battery of two employees in his Glendora office. Dr. Kurwa practices as an ophthamologist in both Arcadia and Glendora.
Dr. Elizabeth Lee is a board certified general/vascular surgeon, currently practicing with Arcadia Surgical Associates and is medical director of the Methodist Hospital Wound Healing Center in Arcadia. She answers questions about wounds in today's column.
William Cottrell's (aka Billy Cottrell), a former Caltech physics student who was in prison for participating in firebombing 100 vehicles in the San Gabriel Valley (Duarte, Arcadia, West Covina) in 2003, will be resentenced. The federal court has dropped arson charges against him but he remains convicted on a conspiracy charge. He could be released or face more prison time.
A federal apeals court overturned William Cottrell's (aka Billy Cottrell), convictions on two counts of arson for his role in the 2003 torching of several sport utility vehicles (SUV) at San Gabriel Valley car dealers, attacks authorities blamed on a radical environmentalist group. The court ruled that the judge in his trial should have allowed testimony regarding Cottrell's Asperger's Syndrome, a disability that could have affected the jury's decision.
Attorney Michael Mayock, representing convicted client Billy Cottrell, seeks a verdict reversal for the 2003 fire-bombing of sport utility vehicles (SUV) at a San Gabriel Valley automobile dealership. He says the jury did not know about Cottrell's Asperger's Syndrome, a neurological disorder. Cottrell's prison situation is 'nightmarish.'
Samah Ouda, a 12-year-old girl from Beit Hanoun, Gaza who was shot in the head by sniper fire, was treated at Arcadia Methodist Hospital by Dr. Bala S. Chandrasekhar. She had received help from the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.
9-year-old Maria Lugo came to Arcadia Arcadia Methodist Hospital from Mexico to have a steel plate removed from her chin. It was a follow-up surgery to a softball-size tumor removal she had in April, 2008, at Arcadia Methodist Hospital. Dr. Jon Tyrell, a member of LIGA International, and Dr. B.S. Chandrasekhar operated on her. LIGA International is a non-profit group of medical experts, pilots and volunteers who travel to clinics in Sinaloa, Mexico several times a year.
In William Cottrell's trial, the jury never got to hear evidence about his Asperger's Syndrome. Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled that Asperger's could not be introduced at trial as a legal defense. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Klausner's ruling was a mistake and tossed out Cottrell's arson convictions, leaving only the conspiracy count. Last week Cottrell was re-sentenced to the original 100-month term for the conspiracy conviction, after prosecutors declined to retry the arson counts. One reason federal officials declined was because they did not want Asperger's Syndrome established as a viable legal defense.
Dr. Edward Castner won the election to be Chief of Staff at Arcadia Methodist Hospital last fall. However, the election was mired in politics. Charges of disloyalty were made against opposing candidate Dr. Dino Clarizio, according to documents that recently became available.