By Andy Boyle, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
A law enforcement task force Wednesday began rounding up people on drug-related charges, the culmination of a three-month investigation dubbed Operation Pill Popper II.
CLEARWATER — As a Hillsborough County physician faced accusations in court Wednesday that he prescribed too many painkillers, Pinellas County deputies targeted 175 people accused of obtaining or selling prescription drugs.
The trial and crackdown, along with other law enforcement efforts this, reflect just how widespread and multi-layered this problem has become for the Tampa Bay area.
Targeting groups who use a system of fake prescriptions and homeless or addict gophers, a multi-agency law enforcement task force set up a staging area Wednesday morning. They began rounding up 175 people on drug-related charges, the culmination of a three-month investigation dubbed "Operation Pill Popper II."
The bust was a sequel to the first "Operation Pill Popper" in February, a 10-month drug investigation involving 74 suspects, 150 counts of doctor shopping and 55,006 pills with a $750,000 street value.
Suspects in the most recent investigation are wanted on 375 charges that include doctor shopping, obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, and conspiracy to sell and traffic various pain medication, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said. They are accused of illegally obtaining or selling more than 100,000 oxycodone pills since January.
By Wednesday morning, deputies had arrested about 25 people, adding to the 52 people arrested from the start of the investigation July 1. Deputies said 68 of the 175 targeted in the investigation have been operating as an organized group that involves using homeless people or addicts to take their own ID cards and fake prescriptions to pharmacies. The recruits then give the pills back to the recruiters for either money or a portion of the pills.
"I wouldn't call them career criminals," said sheriff's Capt. Robert Alfonso. "They're addicts."
Law enforcement officials from St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Largo worked with the Tampa office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on the case, deputies said.
The investigation comes amid heightened concern about prescription drug deaths in the Tampa Bay area and across Florida. Last year, 179 people in Pinellas County alone died from a prescription drug overdose, Alfonso said, adding that a Pinellas user dies from a prescription drug overdose every 35 hours.
Alfonso said many of the suspects have been, or will be, offered help.
"We're trying to bring this effort out into the streets," he said. "It's not all about money; it's not all about greed. Some of these people have serious problems and need help."
The two top suspects at the head of the fake prescription organizations may face federal charges, deputies said. One, who was not identified, has been arrested.
As a stream of arrested people were taken from an interview area to a sheriff's van, where they would then be transported to jail, some offered comments.
"I only smoke marijuana," said Larry Simmons, 41, who was charged with two counts of sale of oxycodone and possession of oxycodone.
Asked by a reporter whether he had a drug problem, Jonathan Pittman, 42, was blunt: "Yes, ma'am, I do."
Pittman was charged with two counts of trafficking oxycodone and four counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.
Oxycodone killed a record 1,185 people in Florida last year, a 26 percent increase from the year before and a 249 percent increase from 2005, according to a July 1 report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Pinellas and Pasco counties had the most deaths caused by oxycodone, with 197, the report said. The Fort Lauderdale area had 161 oxycodone deaths, the West Palm Beach area 130, and Hillsborough County had the fourth most with 128.
Wednesday's arrests come one day after Ronald David Kimball, 53, was arrested on charges of doctor shopping and trafficking in oxycodone. Pinellas deputies said Kimball visited three Florida doctors a month, including one in Winter Park, to get thousands of OxyContin and oxycodone pills. Several of the doctors alerted authorities.
On Tuesday morning, an Indian Shores doctor called deputies to tell them Kimball was back. When deputies arrived, Kimball ran toward a condo complex. After a 45-minute search, he was found hiding under a bridge, deputies said.
Meanwhile, a Hillsborough County trial is under way involving a doctor accused of prescribing undercover detectives enough addictive medication to be considered drug trafficking. Dr. John Mubang, who runs a Seffner clinic and is still licensed, is expected to testify Wednesday.