Case dismissed against Fresno doctor accused of conspiring to do unlawful Botox injections

Two years ago, a Fresno doctor was accused of conspiring with three registered nurses to unlawfully practice medicine involving Botox injections.

On Thursday, Fresno Superior Court Judge Edward Sarkisian Jr. dismissed the criminal case against Dr. Mark Lawrence Nazarian, saying the California Department of Consumer Affairs had insufficient evidence to prove the felony charge against the doctor.

In separate hearings, the three nurses each pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor charge of practicing medicine with a certificate, court records say. In separate plea agreements, prosecutors dropped felony charges against the three nurses.

And after completing a year of probation, the nurses’ cases were dismissed, the court documents show.

Nazarian, however, has always maintained his innocence, said Fresno defense lawyer Mark Coleman, who represented the doctor.

People use Botox injections to improve facial wrinkles, prevent chronic migraine headaches and treat muscle stiffness and spasms. It must be prescribed by a doctor.

Nazarian and the three nurses were charged in December 2016 after state undercover investigators, posing as customers, went to the defendants’ workplace, Mystique Medical Spa at 7161 N. Howard Ave., near Fresno and Herndon avenues. The investigators later obtained warrants to get medical records. In addition they talked to clients of the four defendants.

According to an affidavit by senior investigator Michael Poore, the state agency received an anonymous tip that nurses at Mystique Medical Spa were administering Botox without proper oversight by a doctor. Nazarian, as the medical director of Mystique Medical Spa, “had a duty to supervise the RNs,” the affidavit says.

Poore testified Thursday in Sarkisian’s courtroom at Nazarian’s preliminary hearing. After his testimony, Coleman said, the judge ruled that there was no evidence that the doctor conspired with the nurses or had knowledge of them injecting patients with Botox.