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

[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.

[CyberAnt]

Well .. I hate to disappoint all you people who are ready to tar and feather Rush .. but if this really is an on-going investigation - he will not be allowed to talk about it. At least I believe his lawyers will be wise enough to advise him of that.

[Rastus]

IF RUSH PLANNED TO BUY DRUGS IN A PARKING LOT, IT WOULD BE RUTH'S CHRIS, NOT DENNY'S.

Oh, come now! Didn't you hear from CNN that Rush is a racist? He figured he'd buy a couple of pills and then slip in to the restaurant to help the waitress run off the black customers. ;)

[Timesink]

We already know it's a scam. The maid, who could not be reached for further comment, has a high powered attorney representing her. Find out who pays the attorney, you find out who starting created the totally transparent smear campaign.

Along the same lines, I've always wondered how Scott Peterson - who is a fertilizer salesman - ended up being able to retain Mark Geragos as his attorney. Who's paying for THAT?

[nopardons]

"GOING" to get ugly ? It IS ugly right now, but shall get far worse.

What's more worrying, is how so many FREEPERs are gullible, unknowledgeable, and why one would start a flame war, with another, for NO reason, on this thread.

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh !

[WHBates]

I didn’t label you as anything, but you sound like a child.

[lainie]

or, um, heavy-handedly demanded this poor woman procure 4000 pills. She was his employer you know. He's a misogynist brute! Where is Kim Gandy!!

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmm? Aren't you assuming HE HAS A DRUG ADDICTION!

[T. Jefferson]

JFK had a huge drug problem while in office, actual heroin derivatives. Wasn't there a recent book about this?

[Robert_Paulson2]

We may have a few "surprises" for them as well...
the financier under indictment regarding crimes related to bill and hillary, has been extradicted SAFELY to the USA by John Ashcroft...

he was hiding there.. the Brazilians gave him up about ten days back. He fled the country to avoid being charged himself for crimes related to their misdeeds. Yes... I am hoping Hillary will be indicted BEFORE she announces for the presidency...

[lainie]

Heck, why should he be stifled in an "ongoing investigation." This woman apparently isn't!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

This whole thing is absurd..

I dispense medication for a living..the recommended dose for Oxycontin, OxyCodone, or Lorcet is pretty universal..

The recommended dose for adults is 10-30mg every 4 hours..

This maid is accusing him of taking what..100 pills a day?

Surely you guys don't believe that!

Let's get real here..

It is a CNS (central nervous system depressant)..

Even a mild overdose could put you in a coma, or kill you

Reading right out of the "playbook" as it were..

Overdosage symptoms include..respiratory failure, stupor, coma, no response to pain stimulation, delirium, convulsions, cardiac arrest, and so on..

A young girl in my town crushed TWO Oxycontins, and snorted them, her little brother found her DEAD at the kitchen table,(next morning) on her 21st birthday..she was beautiful..her fiancee is shattered..and Rush is being accused of taking HOW many a day?

and all this hooplah about drugs possibly causing hearing loss, and THAT is why Rush lost his hearing..

It is true that drugs can affect your hearing, something as simple as aspirin will make your ears ring and hiss and whistle, so does coffee and tea..(caffeine)..so does Nyquil.so does alcohol..

Read all labels and act accordingly...

I have the same immune system disease that Rush has..it wasn't caused by any of the things I have mentioned regarding drugs..it robbed me of my hearing, and that has been hard..

Does he have a drug problem?

I hope not! I don't always agree with Rush..but this sort of attack and the amount of drugs he is accused of taking is just beyond anything even remotely credible..

Take care everyone..

Ms.B

[onyx]

Would that be rich.

[slimer]

I am currently recuperating from a massive spinal fusion

Been there done that my friend. I wish you the best in your recovery.

I took prescription pain meds every day for three years. I was addicted no doubt. Getting off them was a dog. Because I admitted that I was addicted and asked for help to get off them, now they won't give them to me anymore. To be honest about it, I wish I would have kept my mouth shut because I am still in a lot of pain.

Oh well, that's life.

[nopardons]

He and Jackie, were SHOT UP, by " DR. FEELGOOD ", and this was known loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong ago, but yes, it appears, again, in some new book.

[GeronL]

good night everybody.

Its good to be back online!

[JohnHuang2]

"No story is too far out if it takes down a conservative voice."

Indeed. The paragons of 'free speech' and First Amendment rights on the Left performed a character assasination job on Dr. Laura not too long ago.

[JohnHuang2]

G'nite, amigo. Sleep well.

[CyberAnt]

I don't expect Rush to be perfect, but I'm not going to automatically assume he's guilty of anything - especially when the lawyer of the Enquirer has ties to Hillary.

[T. Jefferson]

the financier under indictment regarding crimes related to bill and hillary, has been extradicted SAFELY to the USA by John Ashcroft...

This ultrasmear week has been orchestrated by the Clinton's in order to downplay the upcoming indictment of Hillary. She will ignore the charge and scream it's just payback for all the stuff that happened to Republicans. (that she just arranged)

[nopardons]

Thanks for your insight !