SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A nurse practitioner with licenses registered in Stockton and New York who allegedly sold opioids and other addictive drugs to clients around the country is the subject of a civil lawsuit announced Monday by federal prosecutors in Sacramento.

In the lawsuit filed last week in federal court, acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith said Joan Rubinger traveled the country dispensing Oxycodone, Percocet, Xanax, Adderall and other drugs to buyers who paid on Venmo or with cash.

Using no physician as part of her practice and without examining any patients, she issued at least 900 prescriptions from 2019 to 2024, often communicating with buyers via text messages or on the app Telegram, the lawsuit says.

“Rubinger traveled from city to city, providing a range of services from intravenous flushes to prescriptions for controlled substances,” Beckwith said Monday in a statement.

Intravenous flushes involve the injection of saline solutions into a vein in order to keep it open.

Rubinger’s practice consisted of herself, a personal assistant and a billing manager, Beckwith said.

A phone number listed for Rubinger was not answered on Monday, and she did not immediately respond to a request for comment left in a message there. Federal court documents did not list an attorney for her, but records in both California and New York showed a valid nursing license in her name.

According to the complaint, Rubinger would send a menu of drug choices to clients, demanding payment upfront. In one message, she said that “just like at McDonald’s, you gotta pay for your burger before they hand it to you,” the complaint said.

To minimize attention from law enforcement, Rubinger would issue prescriptions in the names of friends and family members of her customers, the complaint said. In one case, a woman went to her regular doctor seeking legitimate pain medication only to find that her file had been flagged for overprescription after Rubinger used her name to provide drugs to the woman’s husband without her knowledge.

The lawsuit is seeking civil penalties against Rubinger and asking the court to prohibit her from selling controlled substances.

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