Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office detectives started making arrests this month in their year-long Operation Spring Hill investigation. So far, arrests number in the dozens. They are looking to arrest a total of 66 people in relation to prescription drug fraud in the Tampa Bay area.

The investigation began last summer after a pharmacist discovered a fake prescription from a doctor in Spring Hill. After calling the sheriff’s office, the pharmacist and investigators discovered more prescriptions from the same doctor – but the doctor told investigators that he didn’t write the prescriptions and didn’t know the patients.

Narcotics detectives have arrested over 30 people so far and have 127 pending charges of obtaining oxycodone, Xanax and methadone by fraud as a result of their investigation. (more…)

A Plant City couple pleaded guilty last week in Tampa’s federal court to charges that they conspired to manufacture methamphetamine in the presence of their young children. Beth Nickerson Cantin and Matthew Brian Cantin face up to 20 years in federal prison but will likely receive substantially lower sentences under the terms of the plea agreements negotiated by their criminal defense attorney.

Sentencing will occur after a sufficient pre-sentencing investigation report is completed and submitted to the sentencing judge for review and consideration.

According to their plea agreements, the Cantins told deputies they made the meth in the garage of their home while two of their three chidlren were present. The Cantins have three children, ages six months to nine years. (more…)

Earlier this month, a Tampa federal jury found St. Petersburg man, Aaron Cainion, guilty of possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute it, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possessing a firearm and ammunition after having been convicted of a felony.

Cainion faces a minimum of fifteen years in federal prison and maximum of life imprisonment. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 28, 2010 in order to give investigators enough time to prepare an adequate pre-sentence report on Cainion.

According to evidence presented at trial, on the evening of January 2, 2010, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies and Tampa Police Department (TPD) officers attempted to pull Cainion over for reckless driving on I-275 in Tampa. Cainion did not stop, instead leading the officers on a high-speed car chase across the Howard Franklin Bridge and into St. Petersburg. (more…)

Joseph Lee Musson of Hudson was sentenced this week to 25 years in federal prison in relation to a murder-for-hire scheme he was involved in last year. Musson pleaded guilty in January to three charges: using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire, carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He faced a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Instead, he was sentenced to five years, ten years and twenty years – the first and third sentences to run consecutively to each other and concurrently to the second – for a total of 25 years. Musson was sentenced as an Armed Career Criminal because of his four prior convictions for sale of cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana.

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office arrested Musson in July 2009 on drug charges after he sold 100 MDMA (ecstasy) pills to Robert Shane Ballard, a confidential informant. Musson learned Ballard’s identity and planned to have him killed. (more…)

Linda Kay Courtright of North Port pleaded guilty earlier this month in a Tampa federal court to distributing oxycodone, the use of which resulted in the 2009 death of Nicholas Block. Courtright faces a minimum mandatory term of 20 years in federal prison and up to life for that charge. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors have agreed not to pursue any additional federal charges against Courtright in the relevant incident.

According to the plea agreement, the North Port Police Department and emergency services responded to a motel room on June 19, 2009. The room was occupied by Courtright, her husband, Billy Jack Courtright, her 15-year-old son, Nicholas Block, and the Courtrights’ three other children, ages 10, 9, and 7. Nicholas was discovered dead on one of the hotel beds. (more…)

Dr. Jeffrey Friedlander pleaded guilty in a Tampa federal court this week to conspiring to distribute and dispense numerous controlled substances–Oxycodone, Morphine, Hydrocodone, and Alprazolam–and to conspiring to defraud Medicare. Friedlander faces a maximum penalty of twenty years in federal prison for the drug conspiracy and ten years for the fraud conspiracy.

According to the plea agreement, Friedlander, a licensed Florida physician, practiced out of a business called Neurology and Pain Center with clinics in Tampa, Sarasota, Lakeland, St. Petersburg, Jacksonville and Orlando. He was a participating physician in Medicare, submitting claims for reimbursement for his services and writing prescriptions for Medicare patients. (more…)

Federal prosecutors in Tampa charged a Plant City couple last week with manufacturing methamphetamine in a home they shared with their three children. Hillsborough deputies were called to the home in regard to a domestic dispute on February 15.

There they allegedly discovered Matthew and Beth Cantin as well as chemicals used to make meth and hardware to cook it in a “one pot” system. The alleged meth manufacturing set-up was located in the garage.

Three children — ages 6 months to 9 years — live at the home with the Cantins. Law enforcement claims that the children were present when the Cantins cooked meth, which can result in toxic fumes and explosions.

Both parents now face the federal charge of conspiring to manufacture methamphetamine on premises where children were present or resided. The maximum penalty is 40 years in prison.

Hernando County Sheriff’s deputies arrested ten people in Brooksville earlier this week on marijuana charges. More than 270 marijuana plants were discovered in two houses by the deputies on Wednesday. The defendants, all of Brooksville, were charged with a variety of drug and tampering charges including cultivation of marijuana.

Detectives had reportedly been watching the houses and picked up some of suspects after seeing them visit the homes for an extended period of time, according to deputies. Because the plants were located throughout both homes, authorities concluded all of the suspects were aware they were grow houses, according to an arrest report.

Four houses were actually raided and searched; only two had been allegedly converted to grow houses.

At those two homes, detectives found marijuana as well as extra sets of power lines used to divert electricity needed to operate A/C units, several grow lights, fans, and other items used to grow marijuana, according to arrest reports.

Janusz Suzdorf of Dunedin was arrested this month on a federal complaint charging him with conspiring to traffic in Oxycodone. Suzdorf is the latest in a string of arrests related to the Neurology & Pain Center clinics located in Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando, Jacksonville and St. Petersburg. Previously, the clinics’ co-owners Troy Wubbena and Dr. Jeffrey Friedlander along with two other employees were indicted on similar charges.

According to the complaint, Suzdorf conspired with Wubbena, who is a physician’s assistant, to illegally distribute Oxycodone through the use of blank prescription forms pre-signed by Wubbena’s supervising physician, Dr. Friedlander. Law enforcement says that the blank forms were then filled out by Wubbena and others employed at the clinics in the names of purported patients for Oxycodone. These prescriptions for Oxycodone were then filled at various pharmacies throughout the Tampa Bay area and illegally distributed by Wubbena, Suzdorf, and others.

Wubbena, Friedlander and the other employees were initially charged back in March 2009. Wubbena was indicted on additional charges earlier this month. There is no indication as to why this latest round of charges were not filed last spring as well. The two clinic employees initially charged pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to distribute drugs and have agreed to cooperate with the government – this may well be the explanation for additional charges so late in the process.

If convicted, Suzdorf faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

See Also:

• Doctor from Tampa & St. Pete Clinics Indicted on Drug Charges
• Tampa Pain Clinic Owner Indicted Again on Drug Charges

A federal judge this week found Rogelio Zarco Perez of Dade City guilty of gun charges relating to a large-scale raid last August. Perez previously pleaded guilty to drug charges.

Law enforcement seized fifty-two kilograms of cocaine and $2.2 million in cash from 12019 Duck Lake Canal Road, Dade City, on August 26th, 2009, the largest drug seizure in the history of Pasco County. Perez’s three co-defendants pleaded guilty to drug charges for their roles last month.

The investigation leading to Perez’s indictment began in 2007 and revealed large cocaine importation, storage, and distribution scheme. The Dade City address was used as drug and cash storage. Several Ocala addresses were used as distribution points.

Law enforcement pulled a truck over after it left the Duck Lake Canal address and discovered over $2 million in a fuel tank. A search warrant was then executed at the residence. Drugs and cash were found. Perez and another co-conspirator were arrested.

The case was investigated by a taskforce comprised of agents and detectives from the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Highway Patrol.

Sentencing is scheduled for April. Perez faces up to life in prison on the drug charges.

See Also:

Pasco Detectives Seize $1.5 Million in Cocaine