Ex-doctor faces prison, fine in federal drug case

Jace Radke

Tuesday, May 25, 1999 | 11:19 a.m.

A former Las Vegas doctor faces up to 10 years in federal prison and up to $500,000 in fines after pleading guilty to illegally trafficking in prescription drugs.

Luisito Evangelista, 69, admitted in U.S. District Judge Philip Pro's courtroom Monday he had purchased prescription drugs worth about $1.5 million and prescribed them to patients who didn't need them.

"Evangelista sold out his medical license to become a dope peddler, and that truly is a crime," Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Garber said.

Evangelista, a Henderson resident, was a licensed physician in Nevada and Illinois but lost his Nevada medical license on Sept. 25, 1997, for prescribing drugs to patients who did not need them, the U.S. attorney's office stated.

Evangelista admitted to Pro that he used his Illinois license to buy more than 500,000 tablets of different drugs from an Illinois pharmaceutical company over the past two years.

The tablets, including Lortab and Hydrocodone, were about 20 times more than a legitimate doctor would need over that time period, Garber said.

Evangelista also admitted to making overnight trips to Chicago to pick up the drugs, which he stored in his Henderson home.

In his plea Evangelista also acknowledged he was guilty of obstructing justice by lying to the court during his bail hearing by not admitting to $75,000 worth of property hidden in a safe deposit box at Nevada State Bank.

Evangelista will remain in custody until his Aug. 24 sentencing, despite a request he be released on an electronic monitoring device until the sentencing.

"He has already misrepresented himself by lying about the money in the safe deposit box," Garber told Pro. "He is now facing the justice of this court, and we contend he has every incentive to flee this jurisdiction."

Pro agreed with Garber, ruling that Evangelista would remain in custody until his sentencing.

In his plea papers Evangelista agreed to forfeit $1.5 million and his house to the federal government.