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FBI Raids 2 Businesses In Pill Mill Bust

Search Warrants Served In Prescription Drug Ring

POSTED: Thursday, July 29, 2010

The FBI raided two local business Thursday morning in connection with an illegal prescription drug ring.

Investigators descended on Northeast Florida Pain and Urgent Care Inc. at Normandy Boulevard and Lane Avenue on the Westside and a wellness center at 48th and Main streets on the Northside as part of a month-long investigation.

No one has been arrested, but investigators said search warrants were served. People inside said investigators arrived with guns in hand.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Drug Enforcement Administration and Florida Department of Health were assisting in the investigation. Investigators were collecting bags of evidence and boxes of material and talking to people who were in line at the clinic.

The state issued a cease and desist order that said four doctors have prescribed more than 7,000 oxycodone prescriptions in seven months.

Robert Mathis said it was his first time in the wellness center when investigators arrived.

"They come in, just told all not to move," said Mathis, who was getting medication. "There were guns in our face, and they told us not to move."

Pill Mill Raid
Investigators raid Northeast Florida Pain and Urgent Care Inc. at Normandy Boulevard and Lane Avenue on the Westside in an illegal prescription drug ring.
Mathis said he came from Tennessee to get a pain pill prescription because he said it's less of a hassle in Jacksonville.

People who live and work near both of the clinics said there are long lines of people every morning waiting to get inside. The owner of a nearby day care described what she saw at the clinic on a daily basis.

"In the morning when I come unlock my building, I see them standing in a line on the side of the building waiting for it to open," Lessie Autry said. "They'd walk up and down the sidewalk all day long, and some of them would go use the bathroom. And I used to tell them that this is a day care. We don't let outsiders use our bathroom."

Autry said her main was concern was for the children's safety.

"I couldn't believe that they did that with two day cares side by side right here in this area like that," Autry said.

Staff at the Northside clinic did not want to comment on the raid.
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