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.
No, just using his high-profile position to beat the drum for the War On Some Drugs. If the story is true, think he'll volunteer for the jail time he demands for other drug abusers?
Absolutely.
The very first time he is caught participating in a crack-buy drive-by shooting.
Moron.
Let's see who I can remember became dependent on pain killers...
FDR.
JFK
Marilyn Monroe,
Elvis.
Howard Hughes.
Just off the top of my head.
A frenzy of criminality all...
I wonder what the attack yorkies are on? ... you know Schumer and Gethardt?
Get a grip! This is exactly why conservatives lose these dog fights. We want leaders (and make no mistake about it, Rush is a leader) to fall on their swords at the slightest indication of possible human failing. What exactly does this "holier than thou" attitude accomplish, except defeat?
Absolutely.
The very first time he is caught participating in a crack-buy drive-by shooting.
Moron.
And those are the only drug cases that are illegal?
Moron.
If taken without a prescription for the purpose of feeling good, yes, pretty much.
In some circles, yes.
U.S. Compares VA Pain Doctor to Crack Dealer
Federal prosecutors yesterday likened a Northern Virginia pain doctor who was indicted on drug trafficking charges to a "street-corner crack dealer" as they tried to keep him jailed until his trial.
Of course, its fatal. This whole thing is BS. The maid is geting paid bt terrence Mcauliffe, and the leak stories are being pushed by the Clintons..
The Wilson matter is aimed at ~~~~Rove.
This smear on Limbaugh is aimed at silencing the right's main voice on talk radio.
Watch for the next shoe to drop ......and I would guess it will be directed at discediting Fox News.
100 pills a day! Who can believe that ... it doesn't make sense. Yet even when Rush had the ear problems he did a three hour show a day -- struggling against the lack the hearing in addition to all the other work that goes into a show. If Rush was popping a pill every fifteen minutes -- how could he have done it? His shows then still made sense, still cutting edge, rational commentary.
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