‘Recruiter’ released from prison; infant death hearing set
The only East County resident among a group of people who assisted a doctor in dispensing illegal prescriptions has been released from a federal prison after serving 693 days.
Amber Grabau, 30, who is also known as Amber Horne, of El Cajon, was the first to be sentenced among seven others including the physician, Egisto Salerno, 75, who will be sentenced Aug. 31.
Salerno, whose office was in San Diego, wrote prescriptions for opioids and painkillers in the names of deceased people, inmates, or people he did not physically examine.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Salerno distributed 78,544 hydrocodone pills, which are also known as Vicodin, and that it was outside the usual course of medical practice.
Grabau was described as a paid patient “recruiter” who brought patients, some of whom were homeless, to his office for the prescriptions. The patients who did received the medications were required to turn over the pills to the recruiters, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
U.S. District Court Judge Cynthia Bashant sentenced her April 29. Her attorney asked for the credit for time served sentence while a prosecutor sought a 2-year term, according to court records.
It was one of only a few sentencings that did occur while most of the courts were closed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. She appeared on a video camera from jail.
Grabau pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess hydrocodone with intent to distribute.
Salerno pleaded guilty Jan. 21 to opioid distribution and he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Salerno is free on $100,000 bond.
“We will continue to zealously pursue doctors who write opioid or other prescriptions that are plainly outside their professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer.
“Even a medical degree does not put one above the law,” said Brewer in a statement after Salerno’s guilty plea.
Grabau was among the eight people who were indicted by a federal grand jury and had been in custody since July 3, 2018.
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A La Mesa couple accused of killing their 7-month-old son face an Aug. 27 preliminary hearing, a judge ruled on May 26.
Joel Dwayne Brownell, 29, and Jalena Robin Rodriguez, 31, appeared on video screens from separate jails before El Cajon Superior Court Judge Robert Amador.
They are accused of murder in the August 2019 death of their son who was taken to a hospital two days earlier for shortness of breath and other injuries.
The preliminary hearing has been delayed several times. They have both pleaded not guilty and remain in jail on $2 million bail.
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A judge denied bail reduction May 29 for a man accused of stabbing a sheriff’s canine and discharging pepper spray to three deputies in an October 2019 incident in Jamul.
Attorney Anthony Parker, who represents Richard Anthony Lechuga, 29, asked El Cajon Superior Court Judge Steven Stone for his release on his own recognizance.
Deputy District Attorney Clayton Carr opposed the motion, and Stone left bail at $277,250.
Lechuga has pleaded not guilty to stabbing “Bono,” who was stabbed in the head and face. He is also charged with exhibiting a weapon to officers, possessing tear gas by a felon, resisting executive officers, possession of methamphetamine and narcotic paraphernalia.
Three deputies testified at a Dec. 20, 2019, preliminary hearing that Lechuga sprayed a substance called “bear spray” to the deputies when he was sitting in his car in the 15000 block of Skyline Truck Trail in Jamul.
Deputies used Bono to make contact with him, and he allegedly stabbed the dog.
Carr said the bail figure of $277,250 was calculated because of the nine criminal charges against him. He has a separate case of resisting an executive officer and carrying a dagger for which an additional $50,000 bail figure is listed.
Stone set a trial date for Aug. 10.
