Illegal Fort Myers pharmacy just tip of iceberg
IRS, FDA inquiries spawned by local raid

By ED JOHNSON
ejohnson@news-press.com
Originally posted on September 23, 2007

La Mexicana Restaurant in east Fort Myers was much more than it seemed, deputies said: A popular eatery, grocery store, illicit pharmacy and another link in the chain of illegal drug diversion that is entrenched in South Florida.

If law officers are correct, it is part of a growing problem as the Internet and easy international shipping provides the potential for illegal profits.

When sheriff's deputies and agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement raided the place last week, they seized hundreds of thousands of prescription pharmaceuticals and $1.8 million in cash.

The sheriff's office arrested Rosendo B. Rangel, 43, and Anna A. Roque, 47, owners of La Mexicana, for running the operation.

Roque is out on bail and

Later, La Mexicana was back in business.

Two armed guards stood by as grocery clerks registered sales to a mostly Hispanic clientele and the check-cashing counter dispensed money in the rear of the store. The take-out restaurant processed food orders for the few people who sat at outside tables.

No one denied the existence of the alleged illegal pharmacy. Workers simply said no narcotics were ever found there.

A guard said none of the bosses were available to talk.

The investigation into La Mexicana is spinning off in new directions with agents from the Internal Revenue Service and the Food and Drug Administration looking at the case, the sheriff's office said.

The illegal distribution of prescription drugs is an increasing problem in Southwest Florida, said Larry Long, spokesman for the FDLE in Fort Myers.

"Overall, we've seen an increase in people obtaining prescription medicines illegally," he said. "People are dying from overdoses of prescription medicines."

In addition, many of the drugs seized at La Mexicana did not meet FDA standards for use in the Unites States, Sheriff Mike Scott said.

That creates a further public safety hazard when drugs of questionable origin or efficacy are consumed, he said.

For many illegal immigrants, places like La Mexicana are the only way to get prescription medicines, Scott said.

Patsy Mercado said he knew people who couldn't get medicine anywhere else would go there.

"People used them to cash checks and I think some sent money home through them," he said. "I cashed checks there and people told me about the medicine, but I'm legal. I didn't need it."

That check-cashing business is now being investigated for possible money laundering, Scott said.

But La Mexicana was more than just a one-stop pharmacy for illegal immigrants; it doubled as wholesale distributor for the the prescription drugs, an affidavit by sheriff's Sgt. Gary Nosbusch said.

When word of the drug business got to deputies, they were able to get an undercover officer inside, posing as a Colombian businessman. He was able to buy quantities of contraceptives and antibiotics there for resale to other customers, Nosbusch's affidavit continued.

Scott said a good portion of the drugs seemed to come from Mexico and Europe, and deputies are still trying to sort out how they got here.

Not an easy task, said Rusty Payne, spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C.

"A lot of it is ordered through the Internet. They pay by a wire transfer of money and then FedEx or UPS delivers it," he said. "There's big money in this stuff."

It's also a difficult trail to trace, he said.

The DEA relies on its Internet investigations team and intelligence that shows increased production by foreign companies to help spot illegal shipments, Payne said.

Detectives didn't want to say much about how that part of the investigation is going.

"They're still pursuing leads and following up on a lot of things," sheriff's spokesman John Sheehan said. "There's still a lot to do."

Scott said deputies suspected there were other such illegal pharmacies in the area, a sentiment echoed by E.J. Picolo, special agent in charge of the Fort Myers FDLE office.

"There's still a lot of work to be done," he said. "This is just a starting point.''

The federal government agrees.

South and Southwest Florida have become wholesale distribution points for illegal prescription drugs, according to a 2007 analysis by the U.S. government's National Drug Intelligence Center.

"It's not a problem that will disappear anytime soon," Payne said. "It has a high profit margin and few of the risks that narcotics trade has."

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... /709230386