A Central Coast woman pleaded guilty to forged medical checkup documents for immigrants and using doctor information to obtain weight loss pills.
Chantellar Banu Woods, 54, of Nipomo, in San Luis Obispo County, pleaded guilty to one count of false immigration documents or applications and possession with intent to distribute the weight loss drug fendimetrazine, according to a statement from the US Protection Agency’s statement in Los Angeles.
Federal prosecutors allege Woods operated and managed the “Healthcare Weight Loss and Immigration Services” clinic in Arroyo Grande, located about 175 miles north of Los Angeles.
Starting in February 2021, Woods has intentionally misused the identities of three doctors and created hundreds of fake documents that immigrants use to obtain “green cards” as legal permanent residents or to adjust immigrant status.
Federal law requires Green Card applicants to submit a health check and proof of vaccination records to determine whether they are unacceptable for health-related reasons, the statement said.
Prosecutors said Woods completed a federal form of at least 328 people and doctors conducted the necessary tests, including doctors’ signatures.
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“Woods acted without the permission of a doctor and the clinic did not provide legitimate medical services,” the prosecutor said.
As part of the judiciary agreement, Woods has admitted to ordering 150,000 tablets of controlled substances, including testosterone, codeine, Xanax, diethylpropion and phentermine, using the number of doctors’ drug enforcement (DEA) registered cases that died in 2021.
“In July 2022, Woods was intentionally and intentionally owned at the clinic with the aim of distributing fendimetrazine (weight loss drug), as well as load firearms,” the statement said.
LA County Federal Court on January 11, 2024. John Fredrix/Epoch Times
The label on the Alprazolam bottle indicated that it was distributed by doctors at the clinic owned and operated by Woods. Investigators said probationists described the clinic as a “pill factory.”
That same month, the sheriff’s aide stopped a driver who said he had been appointed at the clinic to apply for a green card, the complaint revealed. The driver allegedly told his aide that he paid $450 to the clinic. When the aide checked the clinic, the doctor was not on the scene, according to the complaint.
A secret DEA agent visited the clinic on December 9, 2021 and was able to purchase a controlled weight loss medication for $200 without a doctor’s examination, investigators reported. Later that month, undercover agents also said they had bought the drugs and witnessed the three sign immigration documents.
Woods is said to have maintained a website that promoted clinics that support physical immigrant applicants.
The website listed one physician as a board-certified neurologist and designated a citizen surgeon for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, but according to federal prosecutors, the physician was a pediatrician, not a neurologist, and not a neurologist.
Woods officially applied for the name of the business in San Luis Obispo County in 2019, and in 2021, he signed a contract with a merchant processing company and began accepting payments from customers.
Investigators alleged that the clinic processed 1,047 sales from June 2021 to March 2022, resulting in nearly $290,000 in payments.
Woods is free on $10,000 bonds while awaiting a ruling by US District Judge Fernando Holgin, set on July 31.
She faces up to 10 years in federal prison for each count.
Woods refused to speak to the Epoch era when he contacted him about the pleading deal on Tuesday.
