SEBASTIAN — Police investigators said they uncovered a criminal enterprise involving ill-gotten prescription drugs, out-of-state pill smuggling and stolen auto parts when they searched a home last weekend.

Investigators spent 30 hours searching an undisclosed home late Friday and most of Saturday, said Sebastian Officer Steve Marcinik, police spokesman. Eight investigators recovered more than 3,000 pills with a street value of $60,000, as well as $6,500 worth of stolen property and $4,500 cash, investigators said.

“This shows a direct link between theft and the illegal prescription drug business,” Marcinik said.

Investigators said the amount of pills recovered is one of the largest found in a single operation by Sebastian police. The operation differed from others because it conducted business with buyers in other states, rather than simply selling locally, detectives said. Police are investigating at least six people who would fly commercially to other states and smuggle the pills on their bodies.

Investigators said the operation is built on doctor shopping at clinics throughout south Florida to obtain a large quantity of pills. The operation may have generated business in other states because Florida has no central database where pharmacies report which of their customers have purchased certain drugs, detectives said.

The pills recovered last weekend included oxycodone, Xanax, Dilaudid and more, Marcinik said. The homeowner used fake electrical outlets and fake soda cans to hide some of the drugs, investigators said.

The stolen auto parts came from stores in Brevard County, investigators said. The initial tip about the home primarily indicated a large amount of pills would be found, police said. Investigators said they were surprised by the amount of stolen property in the home, which filled the cab of a city pickup truck three times.

Lamaur Stancil

Tags: body, business, cash, detective, drugs, Florida, investigation, oxycodone, pharmacy, pickup, pills, police, property, search, stores, theft, value, xanax

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 10:26 am and is filed under Crime, Sebastian. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.