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NY Daily News: Rush Limbaugh in Pill Probe -- Talk radio star had drug habit, maid sez
NY Daily News & Drudge ^ | October 1, 2003 | Tracy Connor

Posted on 10/01/2003 10:41:34 PM PDT by lainie

Talk-radio titan Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug ring.

The moralizing motormouth was turned in by his former housekeeper - who says she was Limbaugh's pill supplier for four years.

Wilma Cline, 42, says Limbaugh was hooked on the potent prescription drugs OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone - and went through detox twice.

"There were times when I worried," Cline told the National Enquirer, which broke the story in an edition being published today. "All these pills are enough to kill an elephant - never mind a man."

Cline could not be reached for further comment yesterday, but her lawyer, Ed Shohat of Miami, said his client "stands behind the story."

The Daily News independently confirmed that Limbaugh is under investigation.

His lawyers, Jerry Fox and Dan Zachary, refused to comment on the accusations and said any "medical information" about him was private and not newsworthy.

They said Limbaugh - who has a top-rated syndicated radio show but resigned early today from a weekly ESPN football segment amid criticism of racial comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb - was traveling and had no comment.

The Palm Beach County state attorney's office, which is running the probe, said it could not confirm or deny the allegations.

Scoring in parking lot

Cline told the Enquirer she went to prosecutors with information about Limbaugh and others after four years of drug deals that included clandestine handoffs in a Denny's parking lot.

She said she wore a wire during her last two deliveries to the conservative commentator and gave the tapes to authorities.

She also gave the Enquirer a ledger documenting how many pills she claimed to have bought for him - 4,350 in one 47-day period - and E-mails she claimed Limbaugh sent her.

In one missive, Limbaugh pushed Cline to get more "little blues" - code for OxyContin, the powerful narcotic nicknamed hillbilly heroin, she said.

"You know how this stuff works ... the more you get used to, the more it takes," the May 2002 E-mail reads. "But I will try and cut down to help out."

The account Cline gave the Enquirer is that she became Limbaugh's drug connection in 1998, nine months after taking a housekeeping job at his Palm Beach mansion.

It started after her husband, David, hurt himself in a fall, and Limbaugh asked how he was.

"He asked me casually, 'Is he getting any pain medication?' I said, 'Yes - he's had surgery, and the doctor gave him hydro-codone 750,'" Cline said. "To my astonishment, he said, 'Can you spare a couple of them?'"

Husband's pills

Cline said she gave Limbaugh 10 pills the next day and agreed to give him 30 of her husband's pills each month. When the doctor stopped renewing the prescription in early 1999, Limbaugh allegedly went ballistic.

"His tone was nasty and bullying. He said, 'I don't care how or what you do, but you'd better - better! - get me some more,'" Cline said.

The housekeeper said she found a new supplier and arranged to hide Limbaugh's stashes under his mattress so his wife, Marta, wouldn't find them.

After several months, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox and didn't need any more pills, Cline said.

But a month later, he said his left ear was hurting and asked her for hydrocodone, followed by an order for OxyContin.

Limbaugh, 52, suffered from autoimmune ear disease, a condition that left him deaf and had to be corrected with cochlear implant surgery two years ago.

Cline said she continued to make deliveries to Limbaugh even after she quit as his housekeeper in July 2001 - but he became increasingly paranoid, even patting her down for recording devices, she said.

In June 2002, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox a second time.

After he returned, "I went to talk to him, and he cried a little bit," she said. "He told me that if it ever got out, he would be ruined."

She claimed that a lawyer for Limbaugh gave her a payoff - $80,000 he owed her, plus another $120,000 - and asked her to destroy the computer that contained the E-mail records.

Soon after, Cline and her husband retained Shohat and contacted prosecutors.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: addiction; afraidofrush; algorelostgetoverit; claslessdailynews; dailynewsnoclass; danzachary; edshohat; hitpiece; jerryfox; limbaugh; nationalenquirer; nydailynews; recovery; rush; rushlimbaugh; sleazydailynews; tabloidjournalism; talkradio; terrifiedofrush; wilmacline; wodlist
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To: RaceBannon
That jacka$$ Colin McEnroe on WTIC is gonna have an absolute field day over this Rush (fabricated, IMHO) story tomorrow!
501 posted on 10/02/2003 12:33:37 AM PDT by nutmeg ("The DemocRATic party...has been hijacked by a confederacy of gangsters..." - Pat Caddell, 11/27/00)
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To: per loin
Whatever happens, we must mae sure that we do not let Rush fold over this. We need him on the air. If he needs time to clean up (though I think he probably has since this happened last year, if true), we need him back on the air soonest.
502 posted on 10/02/2003 12:33:47 AM PDT by Yaelle
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To: per loin
It's likely timed to take Rush out before Hillary's announcement.

I think you might have connected a few dots.

503 posted on 10/02/2003 12:34:13 AM PDT by Fred Mertz
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To: Howlin
David kendell's law firm no longer has anything to do with the Enquirer.
504 posted on 10/02/2003 12:34:13 AM PDT by mh
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult
And Carol wasn't the ONLY one, to sue and win, IIRC.
505 posted on 10/02/2003 12:34:30 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: hmmmmm
I'm sorry. I must seem really stupid to you right now :-)

Just focused on one train of thought I guess.
506 posted on 10/02/2003 12:34:30 AM PDT by lainie
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult
And Carol wasn't the ONLY one, to sue and win, IIRC.
507 posted on 10/02/2003 12:34:30 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: per loin
I think you're right.
508 posted on 10/02/2003 12:34:30 AM PDT by Howlin
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To: GeronL
Wilma Cline has to be a made-up name

Shohat Edward R,
(305) 358-7000
800 Brickell Av Miami, FL

ANY FREEPERS LIVING IN MIAMI??

509 posted on 10/02/2003 12:34:31 AM PDT by GeronL (The War is not the Presidents hobby!)
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To: per loin
Whatever happens, we must mae sure that we do not let Rush fold over this. We need him on the air. If he needs time to clean up (though I think he probably has since this happened last year, if true), we need him back on the air soonest.
510 posted on 10/02/2003 12:34:35 AM PDT by Yaelle
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To: per loin
It's likely timed to take Rush out before Hillary's announcement.

I think you might have connected a few dots.

511 posted on 10/02/2003 12:34:36 AM PDT by Fred Mertz
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult
Yup. Whether or not there is much reality to the story, the timing of its release is likely well thought out.
512 posted on 10/02/2003 12:34:53 AM PDT by per loin
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To: GeronL
Wilma Cline has to be a made-up name

Shohat Edward R,
(305) 358-7000
800 Brickell Av Miami, FL

ANY FREEPERS LIVING IN MIAMI??

513 posted on 10/02/2003 12:34:59 AM PDT by GeronL (The War is not the Presidents hobby!)
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To: GeronL
Wilma Cline has to be a made-up name

Shohat Edward R,
(305) 358-7000
800 Brickell Av Miami, FL

ANY FREEPERS LIVING IN MIAMI??

514 posted on 10/02/2003 12:35:42 AM PDT by GeronL (The War is not the Presidents hobby!)
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To: blackbart.223
Wrong! Most doctors under prescribe pain meds for fear of undergoing audits by The DEA. Cancer patients, even terminal patients, suffer as a result.

Sad but true. Oxycontin is (i believe) a class III drug, which means the prescription is in triplicate form and a refill cannot be called in. You have to get another prescription from your doctor each time.

515 posted on 10/02/2003 12:35:43 AM PDT by slimer (say it ain't so Rush.)
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To: Howlin
Kendall's law firm no longer represents the Enquirer.
516 posted on 10/02/2003 12:36:27 AM PDT by mh
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To: GeronL
There is a Wilma Cline by that name and a David Miguel Cline listed in West Palm Beach.
517 posted on 10/02/2003 12:36:36 AM PDT by DittoJed2 (Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it,derived from our Maker- John Adams)
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To: lainie
I'm sorry. I must seem really stupid to you right now :-) Just focused on one train of thought I guess.

Not at all! There's a lot to take in here.
518 posted on 10/02/2003 12:36:48 AM PDT by hmmmmm
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To: JohnHuang2
I would think that Rush would screen his employees prior to hiring, I doubt that this story is valid.
519 posted on 10/02/2003 12:37:01 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
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To: slimer
SORRY, I got stuck
520 posted on 10/02/2003 12:37:41 AM PDT by GeronL (The War is not the Presidents hobby!)
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