A 74-year-old Maui doctor faces four federal counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances after he allegedly illegally prescribed hydrocodone, Xanax and Valium to an undercover federal agent on Maui.

Chris A. Boulange was charged March 2, and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. April 12 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth J. Mansfield. He was released on an unsecured $25,000 bond.

Each of the four counts carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million.

“Licensed physicians have the ability to provide potentially dangerous addictive drugs that are otherwise illegal to possess,” said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors, in a statement. “Criminally abusing the privilege to prescribe such drugs may result in criminal prosecution.”

While free on bond, Boulange is prohibited from “prescribing any controlled substances” to any new patients.

He also cannot prescribe any controlled substances to “any existing patients after thirty days from the date of his initial appearance, during which time the defendant may only prescribe a maintenance dose, not to exceed a 30-day supply, for the purpose of safely transitioning the existing patient to a different healthcare provider,” according to the conditions of his release.

The DEA began investigating Boulange in June using an undercover investigator posing as a patient who split her time between Oahu and Maui, worked in a bar and hurt her neck.

The undercover operative met with Boulange on four occasions to pick up prescriptions for an opioid or an opioid combined with a benzodiazepine. Each meeting allegedly took place in a “restaurant/bar setting, and not in a medical office, and at no point did Boulange perform anything resembling a medical examination,” according to the federal criminal complaint.

The undercover investigator allegedly told Boulange she liked how the pills felt when she took them with beer and that her bar friends provided her with Vicodin, hydrocodone and Valium.

“Trusted medical professionals who abuse their medical license to unlawfully distribute opioids ultimately contribute to the deadly opioid epidemic affecting our communities,” said DEA Honolulu District Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Victor Vazquez in a statement. “Whether a street drug dealer or a physician, we will hold any individual accountable who peddle addictive drugs and threaten the safety of American people.”

In October, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration analysts working with the DEA Document and Media Exploitation group analyzed data for Boulange maintained through Hawaii’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program from 2013 through 2022, according to an affidavit by a state sheriff’s deputy working as a DEA Task Force officer.

The top eight prescribed drugs, allegedly accounting for 89.11% of all units of medication filled by Boulange, included “several medications that are among the most abused by drug seekers.” The list included four different opioids (oxycodone, methadone, morphine and hydrocodone), two benzodiazepines (diazepam and alprazolam) and a muscle relaxer (carisoprodol), according to the complaint.

Allegedly, Boulange’s “most prescribed controlled substance was oxycodone,” accounting for 36.44% of all controlled- substance prescriptions, over 1.2 million units, filled during the analyzed time frame, according to federal court records.

The investigation was run by the DEA, Hawaii State Sheriff’s Division, Hono­lulu Police Department and Maui Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael F. Albanese. Boulange’s attorney, Federal Public Defender Salina M. Kanai, did not immediately reply to the Honolulu Star- Advertiser’s requests for comment.