Pubdate: Wed, 08 Oct 2003
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2003 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact:  http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Peter Franceschina
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

DOCUMENTS DESCRIBE LOXAHATCHEE MAN'S ALLEGED 'PILL MILL'

Louis C. Beshara controlled a pharmacy and a medical clinic that authorities
say illegally dispensed hundreds of thousands of narcotic painkillers that
brought him an estimated $1.4 million over three years, even though he was a
convicted felon and on probation for practicing medicine without a license.

A Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office task force investigating the
60-year-old Loxahatchee man and his alleged prescription-drug ring released
hundreds of pages of documents Tuesday. They outline a pill mill that went
through such large quantities of hydrocodone that pharmacists became
uncomfortable and quit, and drug suppliers repeatedly reported their suspicions
to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The investigative reports were released after law enforcement sources said last
week the investigation into Beshara overlapped allegations made by Rush
Limbaugh's former housekeeper at his Palm Beach mansion. She has told
authorities she sold thousands of prescription drugs to the syndicated radio
talk show host, sources said. There was nothing in the documents linking
Beshara to Limbaugh or the housekeeper, Wilma Cline, who first told her story
to the National Enquirer.

Beshara was arrested March 13. His attorney could not be reached late Tuesday
for comment.

An undercover FBI agent bought 1,500 hydrocodone pills and 46 OxyContin tablets
on Feb. 6. That seller agreed to give up his source, who then turned on someone
further up the supply chain. Agents ultimately reached the dealer who
identified Beshara as his source for the prescription pills, the records show.

That informant told investigators he had been buying 5,000 to 8,000 hydrocodone
pills a week from Beshara, who charged $2 a pill, for the past three years.
Investigators estimated that if the informant were Beshara's only outlet, the
pharmacist with a suspended license had sold 720,000 pills on the street for
$1.4 million. Before long, investigators sent the informant to buy 2,000 pills
from Beshara, recording the sale with hidden microphones and using marked $100
bills.

A few weeks later, as Beshara was set to deliver another 4,000 pills, task
force agents swept down on him, his businesses and his home.

Drugs and Money

Beshara's wife, Gloria, purchased their Loxahatchee home for more than $350,000
in May 1999, with a $300,000 mortgage, the records show. Inside, investigators
found $806,000 in a trunk by their bed. Gloria Beshara told investigators the
last time she looked inside the trunk there were sweaters and other clothes.
Agents confiscated the cash, two handguns, a 1996 Dodge Viper, a BMW sedan and
a 1986 Rolls Royce.

Authorities say Beshara controlled the World Health Association pharmacy in
Lake Worth, where a pain-management clinic was housed in the same building.
Investigators found cases of hydrocodone containing 66,000 pills in the
pharmacy, the records show. They also found that a batch of pills had been
ordered under the name of the clinic's doctor, Lloyd Elliot Reich, who said he
never placed orders for prescription drugs.

The pharmacist at World Health since September 2001, Haroun Tariq El-Nil, told
investigators he ordered drugs from one supplier while Beshara used another. He
said he often disagreed with Beshara concerning how many pills were kept in the
pharmacy. El-Nil said he was never aware tens of thousands of pills were kept
in a locked storeroom at the pharmacy.

After reviewing invoices with investigators, El-Nil told investigators he
ordered about 60,000 pills during his time there to fill prescriptions.
Investigators found records reflecting nearly 500,000 pills unaccounted for.

"If those drugs were actually delivered to the pharmacy and the pharmacist
doesn't have any recollection of those medications, that's clear drug
diversion," El-Nil told agents.

Fears, Suspicions

Steven Canter, a former sales representative for the drug supplier that handled
Beshara's account, said Beshara was always late with his payments and looking
to purchase prescriptions that were about to expire because they were cheaper.

"He wouldn't care if it expired in a month. He just wanted the best deal,"
Canter said.

Canter also said he asked Beshara several times why his pharmacy and clinic
needed such large quantities of narcotics. "He answered to me. . `I'm a pain
clinic. That's what we do. We dispense a ton of it,'" Canter said.
Investigators found that the contract patients signed with the clinic required
them to fill their prescriptions at the pharmacy.

El-Nil was the last of a line of pharmacists who questioned Beshara's
practices. Pharmacist Leonard Kohn told investigators he received part of his
pay in 2001 under the table in cash. He said there were a number of
irregularities in the handling of prescriptions while he was there.

"I just didn't feel like I could stay there and finish, protecting my license,"
he said. "I've had this thing for 40 years and I don't want to jeopardize it."

Another pharmacist told investigators he remembered no details of his work at
World Health.

Another said he lasted only three weeks in 1998, disillusioned with the amount
of narcotics being prescribed.

Investigators found that Beshara's drug supplier had filed reports of 20
suspicious orders since August 2000 with the DEA, which regulates prescription
drugs.

When investigators asked Reich whether he would be surprised to learn more than
200,000 pills had been ordered under his name, he responded, "Surprised is an
understatement. Shocked."
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