PASADENA EDITION

 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2018 

VOLUME 12 NO. 50


Pharmacy 
Owner 
Convicted 
of Fraud

Schiff Urges Funding Earth-
quake Early Warning System

 
A federal jury in Los Angeles 
found a Pasadena pharmacy 
owner guilty Friday for her 
role in a Medicare fraud 
scheme involving more than 
$1.3 million in fraudulent 
claims for prescription drugs.

 After a two-day trial, 
Tamar Tatarian, 39, of 
Pasadena, was convicted 
of one count of health care 
fraud and two counts of wire 
fraud. Sentencing has been 
scheduled for Feb. 25, before 
U.S. District Judge John F. 
Walter of the Central District 
of California, who presided 
over the trial. Tatarian was 
the owner of Akhtamar 
Pharmacy in Pasadena.

 According to evidence 
presented at trial, from 
approximately October 
2015 through approximately 
October 2017, Tatarian 
engaged in a scheme 
involving the submission of 
fraudulent claims to Medicare 
Part D plan sponsors for 
prescription drugs that 
Akhtamar Pharmacy never 
ordered from wholesalers, 
and thus never dispensed 
to Medicare beneficiaries. 
Tatarian attempted to 
conceal the fraud through 
the creation of fake invoices, 
reflecting wholesale drug 
purchases by Akhtamar 
Pharmacy which had, in fact, 
never taken place. As a result 
of this scheme, Tatarian 
through Akhtamar Pharmacy 
submitted claims to Medicare 
for more than $1.3 million 
in prescription drugs that 
she never purchased or 
dispensed to patients, the 
evidence showed.

This case was investigated by 
the FBI and HHS-OIG. Trial 
Attorney Alexis Gregorian 
and Assistant Chief A. 
Brendan Stewart of the 
Criminal Division’s Fraud 
Section are prosecuting the 
case. 

 Representatives Adam 
Schiff, Derek Kilmer (D-
WA) and Peter DeFazio 
(D-OR), along with 31 
Members of Congress, 
last week, wrote a letter to 
the Office of Management 
and Budget Director, Mick 
Mulvaney, strongly urging 
the Trump Administration 
to include funding in the 
Fiscal Year 2020 Budget for 
the continued development 
and operation of the West 
Coast Earthquake Early 
Warning System (EEW).

 “To follow through on the 
funding made by the federal 
government, as well as 
growing commitment from 
states and the private sector, 
it is critical that this program 
be properly funded so the 
West Coast will be prepared 
for the next catastrophic 
earthquake,” the Members 
wrote in their letter. “This 
technology will save lives 
and reduce the economic 
impact of an earthquake; it 
simply needs to be properly 
funded.”

 EEW technology, also 
known as ShakeAlert, is 
already fully operational 
in countries like Japan and 
Mexico, and is credited 
for saving lives during 
Mexico City’s earthquake 
in September. Such an 
early warning system could 
provide residents and first 
responders with advanced 
notice that could help save 
lives, avoid injuries, and 
avert major infrastructural 
damage by slowing trains 
to prevent derailment, 
stopping elevators, pausing 
surgeries and taking other 
actions in the event of a 
major earthquake.

 Schiff, who helped secure 
consistent and increased 
federal funding since Fiscal 
Year 2015 for a West Coast 
Earthquake Early Warning 
System said, “Congress has 
made plain its sustained 
and bipartisan support 
for ShakeAlert, and its 
implementation is crucial to 
saving lives, infrastructure 
and property. We will 
continue to urge the Trump 
Administration to recognize 
the immense value of this 
system and fully support 
its funding so that it can be 
deployed widely before the 
‘big one’ hits.”

 “In the Pacific Northwest, 
it is not a matter of if, 
but when, the next big 
earthquake will strike. By 
investing in the Earthquake 
Early Warning system, 
Congress can buy valuable 
seconds for Americans to 
seek cover or get to higher 
ground. Anything short of 
fully funding this valuable 
technology puts people and 
our communities at risk,” 
Rep. Derek Kilmer said.

 “Life-saving earthquake 
early warning technology 
exists, but is not yet fully 
implemented in the United 
States because of a lack of 
will—that has to change. 
We’re living on borrowed 
time,” said Rep. DeFazio, 
Ranking Member of the 
House Transportation and 
Infrastructure Committee. 
“In an earthquake, every 
second counts. We could 
save lives and protect critical 
infrastructure if we installed 
a robust early warning 
system, like ShakeAlert. It’s 
only a matter of time before 
we see a major quake off the 
Oregon Coast and we must 
be prepared for that day.”

 The White House eliminated 
funding for the West Coast 
Earthquake Early Warning 
system in both its Fiscal 
Year 2018 and 2019 budget 
requests. Congress has 
recognized the critical need 
for implementation of an 
Earthquake Early Warning 
System and has provided 
funding for its development 
and implementation in 
recent Fiscal Years. Because 
of sustained support on 
the federal level, as well 
as significant financial 
contributions from the State 
of California, ShakeAlert 
is now available to the 
public on a limited basis. 
Businesses, schools and local 
governments can partner 
with ShakeAlert to distribute 
the alerts for members of 
their organizations. With 
continued support from all 
levels of government – at 
both the state and federal 
level – individuals all along 
the West Coast will soon be 
able to receive alerts through 
their phones.

 ShakeAlert is being 
developed by the United 
States Geological Survey 
(USGS) in conjunction 
with California Institute of 
Technology; the University 
of California, Berkeley; the 
University of Washington; 
the University of Oregon; the 
University of Nevada, Reno; 
and Central Washington 
University.

Holden Holiday Open House and Shoe Drive

By Dean Lee

 Staying in the spirit of the 
holidays, a number of protesters 
showed up to Assemblymember 
Chris Holden’s Holiday Open 
and Shoe Drive Thursday night 
singing Christmas Carols spoofs 
such as “Santa Holden.” 

Holden smiled as they sung, to 
the tune of Santa Baby:

'Santa Holden' 

'Don’t be a shill for PG&E, you 
see'

'Use your office for good'

'Santa Holden' 

'So listen to the people right 
now' 

 In response, Holden said he 
was open to hearing ideas.

 “Here’s what we plan to do, 
we’re going to have a town 
hall [meeting] and have 
an opportunity to bring in 
everyone because this is 
such a complicated set of 
circumstances.” Holden said. 
“Look at different options, 
ideas. But I think one of the 
things that we are going to have 
to explore is, the whole range of 
ideas.”

 Before they sang, local activist 
Lauren Steiner read, in part, 
what they alleged was at issue. 

 “He [holden] wants to 
put forward an absolutely 
unconscionable bill that would 
bail out PG&E, SCE, SoCal Gas 
and their stockholders from 
their liabilities for wildfires 
and pass all the costs on to 
the customers instead. Not 
only would this completely 
eliminate any incentive for 
those corporations to ensure 
fire safety, it would also give 
them strong incentives to 
overbuild still more of those 
fire-dangerous power lines 
when we should instead be 
building much cleaner and safer 
local renewable energy sources.”

 Other protesters and activists, 
including, Ian Burke Jameson 
said they want “public 
ownership of public utilities 
now.”

 Jameson said Holden did agree 
to sit down and talk with the 
groups, “so that’s something, we 
will believe that when we see it.”

 Steiner said they wanted to be 
respectful of the event, we’re at 
an event where they collecting 
shoes for low income children. 
The invitation said we could talk 
about legislative issues, so we 
decided to sing about it.”

 Holden said about the event, 
“It’s our way of just saying 
thank you to the community, 
to bring every one together. Its 
not always about the legislation, 
its about how you can connect 
people with services, making 
sure that they’re aware, solve 
problems, so being able to 
partner with ‘Shoes that Fit’ 
and having so many people 
participate at such a high level.”

 Shoes That Fit is a nonprofit that 
tackles one of the most visible 
signs of poverty in America by 
giving kids in need new athletic 
shoes to attend school with 
dignity and joy, prepared to 
learn, play and thrive. 

 Holden said that all the shoes 
they collected will be given to 
children in time for Christmas.

Give A Club 
Kid A Gift 

this Holiday

 During this season of 
giving, Boys & Girls Club of 
Pasadena needs your help to 
insure that no Club Kid is 
without a present.

 The goal is to provide each 
kid and teen of the Boys & 
Girls Club of Pasadena with 
a toy, sports ball, art supplies, 
gift card, non-electronic 
game, or other gift item 
during our annual Holiday 
parties on December 20th 
at each branch. We have 
collected about a third of 
the needed items for the 600 
Club kids we support. 

 You, or a group you 
belong to, can make a BIG 
difference this holiday 
season by bringing new gift 
items to either the Del Mar 
or Fair Oaks branch OR 
making a donation to allow 
us to do the shopping for 
you!

 Your support will bring joy 
not only to a Club Kid but to 
their family, too. For more 
information or to donate 
visit: bgcpasadena.org. 

See Passing Comet 46P/
Wirtanen this Sunday

CALENDAR Pg. 2


MORE PASADENA NEWS

 Pg. 3

 The comet known as 
46P/Wirtanen will make 
one of the 10 closest 
comet flybys of Earth in 
70 years, Sunday, and 
may be able to see without 
a telescope scientists say.

 Although the approach 
will be a distant 7.1 
million miles (11.4 
million kilometers, or 
30 lunar distances) from 
Earth, it’s still a fairly 
rare opportunity. “This 
will be the closest comet 
Wirtanen has come to 
Earth for centuries and 
the closest it will come to 
Earth for centuries,” said 
Paul Chodas, manager 
of the Center for Near-
Earth Object Studies at 
NASA’s Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory in Pasadena, 
California. What’s more, 
Chodas said, “This 
could be one of the 
brightest comets in years, 
offering astronomers an 
important opportunity 
to study a comet up 
close with ground-based 
telescopes, both optical 
and radar.”

 Comet Wirtanen has 
already been visible in 
larger amateur telescopes, 
and while the brightness 
of comets is notoriously 
difficult to predict, there 
is the possibility that 
during its close approach 
comet Wirtanen could be 
visible with binoculars or 
to the naked eye.

 Astronomer Carl Wirtanen 
discovered the comet in 
1948 at Lick Observatory 
on Mt. Hamilton in Santa 
Clara County, California. 
With a width of 0.7 miles (1.1 
kilometers), 46P/Wirtanen 
orbits the Sun fairly quickly for 
a comet -- once every 5.4 years 
-- making it a short-period 
comet. (Long-period comets, 
on the other hand, have orbital 
periods greater than 200 years.) 
At the time of closest approach, 
the comet will appear to be 
located in the constellation 
Taurus close to the Pleiades.

 An observation campaign is 
underway to take advantage of 
the close approach for detailed 
scientific study of the properties 
of this “hyperactive” comet, 
which emits more water than 
expected, given its relatively 
small nucleus.

 In Pasadena, 46P/Wirtanen 
will be visible in the eastern 
horizon starting shortly before 
6 p.m. until 3:30 a.m. when it 
sinks into the western horizon. 

 For more information visit: jpl.
nasa.gov. 

SAN MARINO/SO. PAS

Pg. 4

SIERRA MADRE Pg. 5

ARCADIA Pg. 6

MONROVIA 

EDUCATION/YOUTH

Pg. 7

FOOD & DRINK Pg. 8

THE GOOD LIFE Pg. 9

WORLD AROUND US 

 Pg. 10

Police on the 
Lookout for 
Impaired Drivers

 BEST FRIENDS Pg. 11


SECTION B: 

 Pasadena police officials 
announced that they will be 
on the lookout for impaired 
drivers during the upcoming 
holiday season. Whether you 
are out celebrating with friends 
at your favorite restaurant or 
enjoying a holiday party at a 
residence, please find a safe way 
home. Remember that averting 
a holiday tragedy starts with 
all of us. DO NOT drink and 
drive. Authorities said “make 
the smart choice - go safely and 
arrive at your destination safe 
and sound.”

AROUND SAN GABRIEL 
VALLEYB1

THE ARTS B2

BUSINESS NEWS

B3

OPINIONB4

LEGAL NOTICES B5


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