CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. — Citrus County Sheriff's Office said a large-scale investigation called "Flip the Script" led to numerous arrests in narcotics trafficking and organized crime in Citrus County.
CCSO said the investigation began when the Tactical Impact Unit (TIU) received information that Tri-County Medical Center, LLC, was illegally operating as a pain management clinic. Officials said the clinic illicitly distributed 39,905 controlled substance prescriptions, primarily opioid-based, which was over 3 million pills in total.
According to CCSO, the medical center's owner, Ernest Bernard Scriven, organized a scheme to get illegal prescriptions for controlled substances, including oxycodone and methadone.
“This clinic was like the candyman. A doctor that you can go and pretty much get anything. We are talking about oxycodone. We are talking about marijuana. Scripts for all kinds of different drugs. It really was an all inclusive one-stop shop,” said State Attorney, Bill Gladson.
We went by the Tri County Medical Center and found it permanently closed.
Florida was once known as the pill mill capital.
New laws cracked down on the so-called pain management clinics more than a decade ago, but Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody says they aren’t completely gone.
“The model was certainly lucrative back then for bad guys. It’s lucrative now. Law enforcement just knows what to look for. In this case, they were doing certain things to disguise that this was the classic pill mill,” Moody said.
Scriven allegedly conspired with an employee at the facility, Kendra Lynn Johnson, to have prescriptions sent to pharmacies around the state for people who were not actual patients and had never seen a doctor. Officials said Scriven and Johnson received cash payments from buyers for the illegal prescriptions.
Over several months, agents from TIU and the DEA were able to obtain prescriptions for trafficking amounts of oxycodone without visiting a medical facility or doctor, and payments were made to Scriven and Johnson for the illicit prescriptions.
On June 12, 2024, authorities executed search warrants that led to the seizure of multiple drugs and vehicles and the arrest of Johnson and Scriven.
Through the investigation, CCSO learned that Shalena Tashaca Scriven, Ernest Scriven's sister, had received opioid prescriptions from her brother and she had never been a patient of the medical facility or seen by a doctor.
Shalena was charged with trafficking in oxycodone and conspiracy to traffic oxycodone.
Ernest Scriven was charged with racketeering, trafficking in oxycodone, and trafficking in methamphetamine, among other charges.
Johnson was charged with trafficking in oxycodone and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
