Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested a Fort Myers pharmacist Monday for his alleged role in aiding a physician officials say was prescribing medications without medical necessity for monetary gain.
Pharmacist Ahmad Hamdi Al Haddad, 47, was charged with three counts of trafficking in Oxycodone, a first-degree felony, and aiding a person obtain a prescription by fraud, a third-degree felony. Al Haddad is the owner of Weaver’s Corner Pharmacy located in North Fort Myers.
Agents allege that between 2004 and 2006, Al Hadddad would fill large amounts of Schedule II Controlled Substances that were prescribed by Ephraim G. Aguilar, a physician at Paradise Medical Center in North Fort Myers, who specializes in pain management. Aguilar and Al Haddad formed an association to prescribe and dispense Schedule II Controlled Substances not for medical necessity, but for the benefit of their own monetary gain, FDLE officials said in a prepared statement released Tuesday.
Agents also arrested Vaughn Wipf, 42, a patient of the physician, and charged him with two counts of trafficking in Oxycodone. The investigation found that Wipf was able to obtain prescriptions for more than 14,000 units of Roxicodone during single visits to Aguilar, officials said. Over a 13-month period, Wipf obtained more than 245,000 Roxicodone (30 mg) tablets, according to FDLE.
Al Haddad and Wipf were both booked into the Lee County Jail. A warrant has been issued for Aguilar’s arrest.

Update: Ephraim G. Aguilar was arrested at 1:30 p.m. (EST) in Nevada. He is currently being held at the Henderson Detention Center in Henderson, Nevada, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Source: Florida Department of Law Enforcement