Dozens Arrested in Pinellas Prescription Fraud Investigation

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.

The suspects, who live in Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties, allegedly used the names of 26 doctors to forge prescriptions on a computer.

Authorities claim that this drug ring, like many others, works like a classic pyramid scheme. A leader sits atop the pyramid with recruiters immediately beneath him. According to the sheriff’s office, Darren Mooney and Marcy Bragdon are the “recruiters” in the Operation Spring Hill ring.

Recruiters look for people down on their luck like addicts and homeless people. Those people then take a fake prescription to a pharmacy. The phone number on the slip is manned by someone posing as the prescribing physician.

The low level recruits keep a small percentage of the pills to take or sell on the street. The remainder is given to the head of the operation.

We’ve seen a huge increase in prescription drug investigations in the Tampa Bay area over the last several years – some involving fake prescriptions, others involving inappropriately prescribed drugs (targeting pain clinics). Reportedly, Pinellas and Pasco counties had the most oxycodone deaths in the state of Florida last year.