A doctor with ties to the Coachella Valley has been arrested on suspicion of using her patients’ identities and stolen physician prescription pads to illegally obtain more than 30,000 tablets of addictive painkillers.
On Monday, the Riverside County District Attorney’s office filed 276 felony counts against Dr. Lisa Michelle Barden, of Rancho Cucamonga, including commercial burglary, forgery, obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, possession of a controlled substance, insurance fraud and identity theft, California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced Monday.
“This physician wrecked havoc on the lives of dozens of patients, violating her oath and abusing her position as a doctor,” Brown said.
Barden, an obstetrician/gynecologist — who at one time was on the medical staff at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs — was arrested on Jan. 29 following a 13-month investigation by the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.
Barden is suspected of illegally obtaining prescription drugs, including hydrocodone (Vicodin) and oxycodone (Oxycotin), on 131 separate occasions from more than 43 different pharmacies and using the stolen indentities of 93 patients.
While practicing in the Coachella Valley, Barden is suspected of stealing prescription pads from five physicians on the staff at Desert Regional Medical Center and personal information from 15 of her patients, said Paul Marquis, special agent with the Department of Justice Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.
Barden used the personal identification information from her patients and forged signatures on the stolen prescription pads to fraudulently obtain the drugs, Marquis said.
Don Brady, marketing director for Desert Regional Medical Center, said Barden resigned from the medical staff about six months ago.
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