Pinellas Prescription Drug Sweep Targets 20 in Pasco

Twenty suspects from Pasco County have been targeted in a Pinellas County Sheriff's Office investigation that aims to arrest today at least 94 people suspected of being involved in a prescription drug trafficking ring.

The Sheriff’s Office’s Countywide Diversion Task Force, working from a command center at Highlander Park in Dunedin, has been making arrests since 6 a.m.

The suspects are accused of writing fake prescriptions, doctor shopping and other crimes related to drug trafficking. The sweep concentrates on fake prescriptions for oxycodone, methadone and Alprazolam.

By 1:30 p.m, the Task Force had rounded up 33 suspects targeted in the investigation. On average, sweeps net about 40 to 50 percent of the suspects targeted.

The arrests stem from a months-long investigation from September to October 2010 that began after citizens reported suspicious activities and crimes at doctors’ offices and pharmacies. That investigation netted about 140 suspects and identified at least 700 individuals involved in writing fake prescriptions.

During that month-long investigation, Alfonso said that his team collected 4,000 fraudulent prescriptions that are dated between October 2009 and July 2010. He estimates that as a result of those 4,000 fake prescriptions, about 400,000 oxycodone 30 milligram tablets have hit the streets, with a total street value of $4 million.

“Florida has been identified as the Colombia of the United States because they’re [trafficking] north,” Alfonso said at his command center in Dunedin. “This is just one investigation.”

Alfonso said that the ringleaders have already been arrested and are facing federal charges, but that he could not release their names because the investigation is still ongoing. Most of Tuesday’s arrests are for individuals involved at the street level.

He said he believes 700 individuals have been recruited to write fraudulent prescriptions at pharmacies with fake prescription paper. He said these papers can be obtained easily, then recreated from a computer and then, copied and forged; Florida has no safeguards against this practice. His team has identified 27 innocent doctors whose names have been used to fill these prescriptions.

“The scripts aren’t theirs, the signatures aren’t theirs …” Alfonso explained.

He cites staggering statistics: In 2009, 249 people died of prescription drug-related overdoses in Pinellas County. In 2010, the figure climbed to 254, with 50 cases still pending.

Perhaps more noticeable to Alfonso’s team are the five arrests that won’t happen.

Five suspects have died of possible overdoses, one from suicide, since the beginning of the investigation.

“A lot of times, these people are addicted,” Alfonso said.

The Task Force includes supervisors, detectives and investigators from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, Clearwater and St. Petersburg Police Departments, the Department of Health and the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.