Orange County Brother-Sister Duo Operated Hospital Drug Scam

Conspiring with his sister who worked as a nurse, an Irvine businessman got rich selling stolen and mis-branded hospital supplies and drugs–including the horse tranquilizer and party drug Ketamine.

Bahram Khandan, owner of United Capital Group Inc., profited more than $1.88 million during a two-year period by using the Internet to sell property that belonged to UCI Medical Center in Irvine, Kaiser Hospital in Riverside and Arrowhead Hospital in Colton, according to Assistant United States Attorney Jeannie M. Joseph.

Joseph argued that Khandan–who was nabbed by undercover officers–deserved a 31-month prison sentence, but the defendant hoped for a punishment of home confinement because with five minor children he is “truly Mr. Mom.”

This week inside Orange County's Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse, U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna decided the appropriate term is 15 months in prison followed by nine months of home detention.

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The 49-year-old immigrant from Iran has until noon on Nov. 17 to surrender to prison officials.

A similar scam pursued by the Riverside Police Department previously won Khandan a six-month jail trip, half the incarceration time received by his sister Goli Khandan-Alai, a Ketamine-consuming, disbarred attorney turned nurse from Huntington Beach.

Hospital officials alerted police after determining they were suffering substantial losses from stolen property. Surveillance video recorded a Duffel bag-toting Khandan-Alai using another employee's code to access supply rooms.

The thieves used eBay.com and Alibaba.com to sell the stolen merchandise, according to a police report.

A search of Khandan-Alai's car located multiple counter-surveillance devices used to detect hidden cameras.

Her cell phone also contained text messages from her brother, who advised her what hospital drugs and supplies were “hot” on the black market.

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