Doctor to serve 7 years

A Redondo Beach doctor was sentenced Thursday to seven years in state prison for selling narcotics to undercover police in 2014.

Gerard Goryl, 61, pleaded no contest in December to 38 counts, including the unlawful prescription and possession for sale of a controlled substance. Prosecutors said Goryl sold Xanax and the strong painkiller hydrocodone to undercover officers over a two-month period.

The drugs, both controlled substances, were sold without proof of medical need or an examination.

In April 2014, the Redondo Beach Police Department and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration began to investigate A Better Weigh, the medical clinic run by Goryl and his assistant Wilfred Arvizo Jr., 69, who is a codefendant.

Several recorded undercover trips revealed Goryl and Arvizo giving controlled substances without prescriptions or medical reasons to people in exchange for cash, according to court documents.

Law enforcement officials documented numerous unscheduled visits in which they were able to negotiate cash deals for narcotics, usually in unmarked pill bottles, without any paperwork. On one occasion Goryl even told an undercover officer not to let police search the officer’s vehicle, court documents said.

A state system used to track a doctor’s and patient’s prescriptions showed that the amount of hydrocodone Goryl obtained for distribution to patients between 2009 and 2012 jumped from 38,000 pills to 56,100.

Arvizo faces similar counts and could spend more than eight years in state prison.