Palm Beach Post - Limbaugh linked to painkillers

PalmBeachPost.com ^ | October 3, 2003 | John Pacenti and Mary McLachlin

[nutmeg]

.

[LittleJoe]

conservatives need to stick to principles.

My principles do not require me to persecute a man with a personal problem.

Rush has done more to fight the rising tide of tyranny in this country than any other man alive. If he needs little blue pills to keep him going, I say give him the pills!

I can not understand how anyone could turn on this guy because of a stupid pill. This is proof positive that the War On Drugs is insanity run amuck!

[Bayou City]

Here is a post from the Palm Beach Sheriff's office announcing the arrest of the pharmacist and his wife.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office

May 14, 2003
pr03-01
Contact
Paul Miller
Assistant Public Information Officer
(561) 688-3080

PRESS RELEASE

ARREST OF INDIVIDUAL INVOLVED IN DISTRIBUTION OF DIVERTED PHARMACEUTICALS

State Attorney, Barry Krischer, 15th Judicial Circuit and Sheriff Edward Bieluch, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office announced today that an on going joint investigation conducted by the State Attorney’s Multi-agency Money Laundering Task Force and the Sheriff’s Office Organized Crime Bureau has resulted in the seizure of in excess of thirteen thousand Hydrocodone tablets as part of an undercover operation. Also, over sixty three thousand five hundred additional Hydrocodone tablets as a result of a search of the World Health Association, Inc., 2887 Lake Worth Road, Lake Worth, Florida. The estimated street value of these tablets is approximately four hundred and seventy thousand dollars.

The arrest of GLORIA I. RODRIGUEZ BESHARA, date of birth 10/04/1949, on May 14, 2003 for conspiracy to traffic Hydrocodone, is the latest development in this continuing investigation into the diversion of thirteen thousand five hundred tablets and the alleged diversion of an estimated 450,000 Hydrocodone tablets ordered and received by operators of World Health Association, Inc. during approximately a eighteen month period then diverted to illegal drug traffickers for sale.

The investigation to date has tracked the flow of these drugs from the manufacturers, to World Health Association, Inc., and through several dealers, some of whom have been identified, to what may prove to be a common destination for use or resale. The street value of these diverted tablets is estimated at over one million dollars. LOUIS BESHARA, date of birth 8/20/1942, a pharmacist, whose license was suspended following a conviction for practicing medicine without a license and who worked at the World Health Association, Inc. office with his wife, GLORIA I. RODRIGUEZ BESHARA, was arrested on 3/13/03 and charged with two counts of narcotics trafficking. Each charge carries a possible minimum mandatory sentence of twenty - five years.

LOUIS BESHARA and GLORIA I. RODRIGUEZ BESHARA reside at 1277 Stallion Drive, Loxahatchee, Florida.

Mr. Krischer and Sheriff Bieluch advised the investigation is continuing to identify other dealers, buyers and individuals associated with this group and to identify the ultimate destination of such a large quantity of diverted pharmaceutical drugs. Additional arrest and seizures are expected in the near future.

For additional information contact Assistant State Attorney in charge of the COMBAT Unit, Jim Martz at 355-7376 or cell 561-307-3584 and or the State Attorney’s Multi Agency Money Laundering Task Force Unit at 355-7166

[Bayou City]

Yeah, I saw that :) Maybe in addition to the lawyer, we should be checking out his lawfirm, too. Just for giggles.

I was wondering why such a high profile criminal defense lawyer would be on this case, he has represented members of the Cali Cartel in the past. So I started poking around a little, just for giggles :) and came across this little tidbit, it looks like Shohats lawfirm has a young associate, Michael A. Pizzi Jr. and his father was a Clinton appointee in 1994. This may not be anything, but whenever I do a google and Clinton pops up my antenna immediately goes through my tin foil hat.

White House Papers

PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES EIGHT U.S. MARSHALS

MICHAEL A. PIZZI EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Mr. Pizzi is currently the President and Chief Financial Officer of United Security Incorporated in Staten Island, New York. Previously, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Central Security Systems, Incorporated in Staten Island, New York. Prior to that, he was Chief Deputy United States Marshal with the United States Marshals Service in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. Mr. Pizzi is married and has three children.

[Cacophonous]

Would you prosecute someone who broke the law?

[nopardons]

And that wire is NO good, if it wasn't set up by the POLICE and there's really incriminating evidence on it.

More will come out and the Clines aren't going to smell any better afterwards, I bet. :-)

[nopardons]

Interesting catch. I too, was wondering just HOW these two grifters were able to get such a high powered lawyer.

[Bayou City]

BTW here is a link to the firm Bierman, Shohat, Loewy & Klein, P.A

[nopardons]

Thanks ! :-)

[Fledermaus]

Palm Beach County, Florida is run by Democratic political hacks.

[Fledermaus]

OCTOBER 3--Meet Louis Beshara and his wife, Gloria Rodriguez. The Florida couple are at the heart of the drug scandal now enveloping radio superstar Rush Limbaugh. Investigators allege that the duo illegally sold hundreds of thousands of prescription painkillers from a Palm Beach-area pharmacy they owned. According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's search warrant affidavit, Beshara provided Hydrocodone, the powerful and addictive painkiller, to middlemen drug dealers like Joseph Coppola who then resold the pills to users. It has been reported that Limbaugh scored some of the Beshara pills via Wilma Cline, a former maid at the radio star's West Palm Beach mansion. Beshara and Rodriguez, who each face two felony drug trafficking charges, are free on bail, though Beshara is under house arrest. (8 pages)

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/beshara1.html

[MHGinTN]

Clearest explanation I've yet heard! This woman and her 'upstanding husband' were building this scheme for some reason, over time. Planned blackmail but got busted before they could hit Rush with it? And I'm wondering how they even knew to contact Shohat?

[Lurker]

" They said they sold him 11,900 tablets over six months in 2001"

This may explain why Rush has so many listeners.

He wasn't taking them, he was giving them away.

11,900 divided by 180 = 66.111111 tablets daily. No single person could possibly have ingested that much Vicodin, therefore Rush must have been giving it away in order to gain ratings.

There's no other possible explanation for the popularity of his program.

Rush is drugging his listeners and creating mind numbed robots using Vicodin and Oxycontin.

And of course, Rush spends lots and lots of time at Dennys. I hear he's a huge fan of the Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity Breakfast.

L

[Lurker]

The only way I can listen to Limbaugh is if I am using painkillers.....

L

[MHGinTN]

This may seem like a strange question, but was Cline the person who Rush mentioned was in charge of his specific diet that aided him in losing so much weight? I was under the impression that he had a special cook who prepared all his meals. Surely she would have noticed an addiction problem if there had been one. [Incidentally, for those wanting to connect narcotics to Rush's hearing loss, look up gentimicin, a very important antibiotic ... it causes deafness also.]

[Fledermaus]

I know he mentioned a private cook, I doubt it was Cline.

[radiohead]

I haven't read thru all the posts here, but can someone tell me why Rush would hire someone like Cline? Didn't the guy do a background check on her AND her husband? Didn't he use a high-end domestic service agency? I would have run a report on everyone in her household and maybe even the parents on both sides.

The more I read about this woman's background, the more disturbed I become. What was Rush thinking when he hired her? Also, was she part time or is the pay scale just that low in Florida? Many domestics to the wealthy and famous get paid way more than the 370 a week this woman was getting. Maybe she didn't think it was enough?

I've had to procure confidential reports on people for high level corporate positions. While a maid is not an executive, this woman is coming in your house and you're Rush Limbaugh. Hello?? Can we say blackmail? Theft? Dim shennanigans?

Worrisome...

[MHGinTN]

Think it's possible that a woman fixing all his meals and serving most of them to him would be unaware of a drug use?

[MHGinTN]

If I were an investigative journo, I'd be finding the Lady who helped Rush with his very effective diet! Wonder why the 'professionals' aren't interviewing her?

[I_dmc]

thank you for the info on the word intensify. I just love finding out the source of words. Intensify, hmm, I can see that, yep.