Las Vegas Sun

November 10, 2009

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Man who helped doctor with drugs gets probation

Kim Smith

Monday, Oct. 4, 1999 | 11:32 a.m.

A Las Vegas man who admitted to helping a local doctor illegally distribute millions of dollars worth of drugs was given probation Friday.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro sentenced Joseph Alti, 52, to four years probation, Matthew Parrella, assistant U.S. attorney, said.

Alti told Pro he helped Luisito Evangelista, 69, sell drugs to patients who didn't need them. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

According to the U.S. attorney's office, Evangelista was a licensed physician in Nevada and Illinois, but he lost his Nevada license in September 1997 for prescribing drugs to patients who didn't need them.

Less than two years later, in February 1999, Evangelista was indicted on drug trafficking charges.

Evangelista entered a plea agreement in May, at which time he told Pro that he used his Illinois medical license to buy more than 500,000 tablets from a Chicago pharmaceutical company. One of the drugs he purchased, Hydrocodone, is a synthetic codeine.

Evangelista was sentenced to 4 1/4 years in prison in August. He also forfeited $1.5 million and his house to the federal government.

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