Nipomo Woman Pleads Guilty to Faking Medical Immigration Forms and Drug Trafficking

LOS ANGELES – Chantelle Lavergne Woods pleaded guilty Monday to misusing the identities of medical professionals to create hundreds of fraudulent immigration documents required to obtain lawful status for applicants as well as using a deceased doctor's credentials to obtain multiple controlled substances.

Woods pleaded guilty to one count of presentation of false immigration document or application and one count of possession with intent to distribute phendimetrazine stated the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California in a press release.

The 54-year-old Nipomo woman was initially charged in a federal complaint filed in February of this year and is currently free on a $10,000 bond added the U.S. Attorney's Office.

According to Monday's plea agreement, Woods formerly operated a clinic in Arroyo Grande that was known at certain times as "Medical Weight Loss and Immigration Services and knowingly misused the identities of three different physicians to create hundreds of fraudulent documents related to medical examinations required for people seeking to register as lawful permanent residents -also known green card holders- or to adjust their immigration status beginning in February of 2021.

Federal law requires that a licensed physician perform the required medical examinations and a sign a form attesting that they had conducted the evaluation.

Woods completed at least 328 such forms and falsely included the signatures of medical doctors shared the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Additionally, between February of 2021 and June of 2022, Woods used the Drug Enforcement Administration registration number of a deceased physician to order more than 150,000 tablets of various controlled substances including testosterone, codeine, alprazolam (commonly sold under the name Xanax), as well as diethylpropion and phentermine which are both appetite depressants usually prescribed for weight loss detailed the U.S. Attorney's Office.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Woods knowingly possessed and intended to distribute the weight-loss drug phendimetrazine and had a loaded firearm at the clinic in July of 2022.

Woods is currently scheduled for a sentencing hearing on July 31 where she faces a statutory maximum sentence of ten years in federal prison for each count shared the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy K. Beecher of the Transnational Organized Crime Section prosecuted this case that was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration's Ventura Resident Office Tactical Diversion Squad and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service's Fraud Detection and National Security Office.