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.
I think it's horse manure, actually.
Which reminds me, if this story is true, do you think Marta is just now finding out? Yikes, he could lose his marriage over this?
Starting with the source...
Describing his own client as ``incredibly stupid'' and ``such a fool, such an idiot, such a jerk,'' the attorney for accused bribe taker and former Miami-Dade Commissioner James Burke opened closing arguments Tuesday by asserting his client was only trying to help minorities get county contracts.
Well-known Miami defense lawyer Ed Shohat has not yet addressed the videotape of his client taking an envelope stuffed with $5,000 in cash and saying, ``This is a wonderful country.'' Shohat will finish his closing arguments this morning.
Throughout the two-month bribery conspiracy trial of Burke, his former aide Billy Hardemon and California financier Calvin Grigsby, Shohat has attempted to persuade jurors that Howard Gary, Miami bond dealer-turned-FBI snitch, twisted conversations and lured Burke into a government trap because he knew Burke was obsessed with making sure blacks got a fair share of the county's business.
Shohat's clients seem to love videotape and wires...
AMEN to That!!! If he is a drug addict (which I do not believe, and I know of what I speak) - SO WHAT? He still beats the tar out of the rats. Even if all this were true, would I stop listening? - Not a chance (though I may be emboldened to attempt to correct some minor misconceptions on Rush's part). History is resplendent with great men that had a weakness, they overcame it. Churchill was one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century and was also an alcoholic. What of it? He performed a mighty feat. So what if he did it with a buzz or hangover.
I just hope the republicans decide enough is enough and start fighting these vermin! Rush - Lots of support here and everywhere else for you! Keep your powder dry, and I'll be tuning in...
Find out who pays the attorney, you find out who starting created the totally transparent smear campaign.
Rush freely announced he was on medication for a few months during his deafness battle,ie, the same time frame as this occurs. However, with just 3 Hydrocones you can't think, speak, and it's almost instantaneous sleep. 10 would be almost instant death.
I'm embarrassed to watch the reactions on this thread, although I'm sure alot are democrats trying to shape opinion.
Why not presume he's innocent until proven otherwise? If conservatives don't stand on that principle, who will? All of the "if true" posts bother me.
If memory serves correct, Marta was a fitness trainer when they met. I seriously doubt she'd put the effort into getting Rush to lose all that weight while turning a blind eye to drug abuse.
In other words, this story is b.s. Rush probably borrowed a couple aspirin one day.
Yes I do remember. Rush's on air personality is professional. That's why he gets paid big bucks. When a person becomes a professional, what ever they are doing becomes like second nature to them. In other words, they don't have to work at it as much as they did when they were trying to become professional.
I don't know if that makes sense or not - it's getting a bit late.
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