Crime & Safety

Los Gatos Doctor 'Pill Mill' Case Set For a Preliminary Hearing

After several delays, defendant Jasna Mrdjen will appear in court for a preliminary hearing at the San Jose Hall of Justice.

The case against a doctor accused of involuntary manslaughter and drug charges for allegedly running a "pill mill" out of her now-closed Los Gatos clinic is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. today, Friday, Jan. 10.

Jasna Mrdjen, 70, free after posting a reduced bail amount of $160,000, was arrested in May of 2012 and charged with 13 felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors say a former patient died from overdosing on the prescription drugs she provided out of her Los Gatos Capri Drive suite.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Dana Veazey said no additional charges have been added, but the case has been delayed to allow prosecutors to continue investigating the case.

Mrdjen has not yet entered a plea and is represented by attorney Guyton Jinkerson, who has not returned several calls from Los Gatos Patch seeking comment. 

Presiding over the case is Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Philip H. Pennypacker. 

Mrdjen, who has a doctoral degree in medicine from the University of Zagreb in Croatia and graduated with a medical degree from Stanford in 1977, is accused of prescribing highly addictive narcotic pain relievers such as oxytocin and Percocet.

Mrdjen, a Mountain View resident, was taken into custody on a $1 million warrant after the Santa Clara County Special Enforcement Team, law enforcement officers from multiple jurisdictions who target narcotics-related crimes, raided her Los Gatos Pain Management Clinic on May 11, 2012.

The narcotics counts she faces include conspiring to sell controlled substances by excessively prescribing drugs to patients for resale and prescribing controlled substances to an addict, according to the district attorney's office. Some of Mrdjen's patients allegedly resold prescription drugs they obtained through the doctor, prosecutors said.      

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