Local News in Brief : MD Guilty on Drug Counts

A former Inglewood physician who wrote 10,000 prescriptions in one year was convicted Friday of 60 counts of illegal drug distribution in what authorities said was the worst violation uncovered in a five-year crackdown on prescription abuse.

Mesfin Seyoum, 38, was found guilty in U.S. District Court of issuing illegal prescriptions through a one-way mirror at his clinic for drugs, described as “drug store heroin,” that eventually were distributed by street dealers.

Seyoum was the last of 32 physicians, pharmacists and pharmacy owners convicted in “Operation Rx,” a joint state and federal investigation into illegal prescriptions.

According to federal prosecutors, Seyoum wrote prescriptions for amphetamine-like drugs such as Ritalin and Preludin, and Dilaudid, which Assistant U.S. Atty. Joyce Karlin described as “the most dangerous drug on the street.”