The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
Three people in northwest Florida were arrested on multiple charges after a years-long, multi-agency investigation led the authorities to believe they trafficked over a hundred pounds of drugs out of a privately owned pharmacy.
At the end of 2020, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Department of Financial Services, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and several other agencies started investigating Pace Pharmacy when they suspected the business was being used as a pill mill. The pharmacy is owned by a 54-year-old pharmacist and his 58-year-old wife, who works as the office manager. A second man, age 69, is employed as a pharmacist at the location.
The authorities believed that the business was providing large quantities of illicit substances to people who did not have a medical need for them and illegally billed insurance companies to cover the cost. During the investigation, it was asserted that the alleged pill mill moved more than 48 pounds of oxycodone, 57 pounds of hydrocodone, and approximately two pounds of hydromorphone.