According to a press release Muhammad Arif, 61, of Katy, Texas, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances and three counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances. Arif is expected to be sentenced on a date not yet determined by U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett of the Southern District of Texas, who presided over the trial.
According to the evidence presented at trial, from September 2015 through February 2016, Arif conspired with a doctor and with the owner of Aster Medical Clinic of Rosenberg, Texas, which operated as an illegal pill mill, to unlawfully prescribe controlled substances to patients. The evidence showed that Arif was not licensed to practice medicine in the United States, but posed as a physician at Aster Medical Clinic, saw patients as if he were a physician and wrote prescriptions for patients on prescription pads that had been pre-signed by the doctor, Arif’s co-conspirator.
To date, two co-conspirators have pleaded guilty based on their roles in the unlawful prescription scheme at Aster Medical Clinic. Baker Niazi, 48, of Sugar Land, Texas, and Waleed Khan, 47, of Parker, Texas, are currently awaiting sentencing before U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett of the Southern District of Texas.The announcement comes only a few days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement / Homeland Security Investigations awarded a $3 million + contract to Marshall University to combat the opioid crisis in the US.
