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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
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 Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:05 pm Rush Limbaugh Turns Himself In on Fraud Charges |
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Alright, before I post the news story, I would like to keep a few things in mind:
1. The Palm Beach County officials, particularly the Attorney General, are, many of them, committed Democrats.
2. His medical records were stormed without a warrant and not under the Patriot Act for terrorism security concerns. Hence, it is unconstitutional.
Anyways, the story:
| Quote: | Rush Limbaugh Turns Himself In on Fraud Charges, Reaches Settlement
Friday, April 28, 2006
AP/FOX NEWS
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. � Rush Limbaugh and prosecutors in the long-running painkiller fraud case against him have reached a deal calling for the only charge against the conservative commentator to be dropped if he continues treatment, his attorney said Friday.
Limbaugh was booked on a single charge that was filed Friday, said Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Jail. He left about an hour later, after Limbaugh was photographed and fingerprinted and he posted $3,000 bail, Barbera said.
The radio giant's agreement to enter a diversionary program ends a three-year state investigation that began after Limbaugh publicly acknowledged being addicted to pain medication and entered a rehabilitation program.
Prosecutors accuse him of "doctor shopping," or illegally deceiving multiple doctors to receive overlapping prescriptions. They learned that he received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months, at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion.
Limbaugh pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge of fraud to conceal information to obtain prescriptions. Though he steadfastly denies doctor shopping, the charge will be dismissed in 18 months if Limbaugh complies with court guidelines, his lawyer Roy Black said.
"Mr. Limbaugh and I have maintained from the start that there was no doctor shopping, and we continue to hold this position," Black said in an e-mailed statement.
Limbaugh spokesman Tony Knight said the commentator signed the agreement Thursday, and that it called for him to enter the not guilty plea. "It's not in the system moving toward trial. It was all a formality. It's a concluded deal," Knight said.
Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for the state attorney's office, said prosecutors had not yet received the signed agreement.
"I am not disputing the facts, the conditions that Black represented, but until his client signed the agreement, we don't have a full agreement," Edmondson said. "I am sure it's just a timeline issue."
He refused to comment further.
As a primary condition of the dismissal, Limbaugh must continue to seek treatment from the doctor he has seen for the past 2 1/2 years, Black said. Among other provisions, he also has agreed to pay the state $30,000 to defray its investigative costs, Black said.
The warrant alleges that sometime between February and August 2003, Limbaugh withheld information from a medical practitioner from whom he sought to obtain a controlled substance or a prescription for a controlled substance.
Prosecutors began investigating Limbaugh in 2003 after the National Enquirer reported his housekeeper's allegations that he had abused OxyContin and other painkillers. He soon took a five-week leave from his radio show to enter a rehabilitation program and acknowledged he had become addicted to pain medication. He blamed it on severe back pain.
Before his own problems became public, Limbaugh had decried drug use and abuse and mocked President Clinton for saying he had not inhaled when he tried marijuana. He often made the case that drug crimes deserve punishment.
"Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up," Limbaugh said on his short-lived television show on Oct. 5, 1995.
Prosecutors seized Limbaugh's medical records after learning about the painkillers he had received at the Palm Beach pharmacy. The investigation was held up as the prosecutors and Black battled in court over whether the records were properly seized.
Limbaugh reported five years ago that he had lost most of his hearing because of an autoimmune inner-ear disease. He had surgery to have an electronic device placed in his skull to restore his hearing. But research shows that abusing opiate-based painkillers also can cause profound hearing loss. |
| Quote: | Settlement Agreement Ends State Investigation of Rush Limbaugh
RushLimbaugh.com
Palm Beach, FL � April 28, 2006 � In response to media and other inquiries, Roy Black, Rush Limbaugh's attorney, released the following statement today concerning a settlement agreement with the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office to end the investigation of Mr. Limbaugh:
"I am pleased to announce that the State Attorney's Office and Mr. Limbaugh have reached an agreement whereby a single count charge of doctor shopping filed today by the State Attorney will be dismissed in 18 months. As a primary condition of the dismissal, Mr. Limbaugh must continue to seek treatment from the doctor he has seen for the past two and one half years. This is the same doctor under whose care Mr. Limbaugh has remained free of his addiction without relapse.
"Mr. Limbaugh and I have maintained from the start that there was no doctor shopping, and we continue to hold this position. Accordingly, we filed today with the Court a plea of 'Not Guilty' to the charge filed by the State.
"As part of this agreement, Mr. Limbaugh also has agreed to make a $30,000 payment to the State of Florida to defray the public cost of the investigation. The agreement also provides that he must refrain from violating the law during this 18 months, must pay $30 per month for the cost of "supervision" and comply with other similar provisions of the agreement.
"Mr. Limbaugh had intended to remain in treatment. Thus, we believe the outcome for him personally will be much as if he had fought the charge and won."
The actions taken today are as follows:
� The State Attorney has filed a single charge of doctor shopping with the Court. The charge is being held in abeyance under the terms of an agreement between the State and Mr. Limbaugh.
� Mr. Limbaugh has filed a plea of "Not Guilty" with the Court.
The formal agreement between Mr. Limbaugh and the State Attorney will be filed with the Court on Monday. The terms of the agreement are substantively as follows:
� Mr. Limbaugh will continue in treatment with the doctor he has seen for the past two and one half years.
� After Mr. Limbaugh completes an additional 18 months of treatment, the State Attorney has agreed to drop the charge.
� Mr. Limbaugh has agreed to make a $30,000 payment to the State of Florida to defray the public cost of the investigation.
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I'm glad that this will, after all the horrible trouble he's gone through--often unjustified--cease to bring him trouble in 18 months. He's gotten some very negative treatment. This "easy way out," as some have called it, is only what he deserves after what he's gotten.
Rush is actually getting bad treatment now, for this story being nothing and yet the continous media slander going out about him now. This major media coverage shouldn't be happening. But anything to get at the Conservative media or Conservatives/Republicans is fair game, of course!
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Starbuck
faster...
Joined: 19 Feb 2003
Posts: 8715
Location: between chaos and melody
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| Sat Apr 29, 2006 8:15 am |
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well..... he turned himself in, apparently...... thats basically admission of guilt, so how they got their information no longer matters. Its kinda slimy....
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Republican_Man
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| Sat Apr 29, 2006 2:20 pm |
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No, it's not an admission of guilt. It's an attempt to get things done with. He pleaded "not guilty" and apparently it was seen in that light. Roy Black (attorney) deserves a pat on the back for a job well done.
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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TrekkieMage
Office Junkie
Joined: 17 Oct 2004
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| Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:36 am |
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The question about the seizing of the records will not really be answered unless Limbaugh takes it to a higher court, and seeing as he has agreed to the settlement, I'm not sure he will.
If that is the case then while we may know that it technically wasn't legal (as far as I know at least, there may be a loophole or something), the law will have upheld the investigation.
I hope that made some sense 
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Republican_Man
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| Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:07 pm |
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Judge Andrew Napolitano, whom LightningBoy likes and I like roughly 50% of the time (or a bit more) is a MAJOR Constitutional guy. He says that what they did was illegal--and he's gone after people of BOTH sides ALL the time on that. He's opposed to the Patriot Act, for instance.
According to him, they ceased Rush's records illegally, without a warrant. And I've heard this from many others before as well. It is entirely true. I would think you, being opposed to the Patriot Act, would jump on board the Rush Defense Wagon in that regard (not necessarily others, but that regard).
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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TrekkieMage
Office Junkie
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| Sun Apr 30, 2006 2:19 pm |
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seized 
I do do agree that his records shouldn't have been taken like that, and I'm not saying that what they did was right. I'm just saying that if the court went through with the case despite the (seemingly) illegal attainment of the records, maybe we're not seeing something. I'm curious to see if the issue gets taken to a higher court.
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Republican_Man
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| Sun Apr 30, 2006 4:46 pm |
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lol, not a mistake I usually make...lol
And I doubt that it'll get to a higher court. The quicker it can be done with, the quicker people will forget about it, and the quicker Rush can go back to doing what he does best, and only that.
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Republican_Man
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Puck
The Texan
Joined: 05 Jan 2004
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| Tue May 02, 2006 10:26 pm |
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I hope this gets over with soon. Although I don't like him, I don't think he deserves this humiliation that has been ongoing for several years now.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
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| Tue May 02, 2006 10:34 pm |
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Agreed (well, not on the disliking part, of course). The way the media portrayed this story, however, was incorrect (purposefully) and ridiculous, and was no doubt to get back at him for him taking them head-on all the time. I mean, he turned himself in. He was NOT arrested.
Here's the truth of what happened:
| Rush Limbaugh wrote: | But there was one thing that happened Friday afternoon. We scurried into fast action, starting at about six o'clock Friday. I was over there for about an hour, got back to the office here around 5:15 or 5:30, turned on the news, and there's this news: "Rush Limbaugh Arrested on Drug Fraud!" I said, "Where in the world did this come from?" Because, you know, the word "arrested," this is semantics. When you hear the word "arrested," you think cops show up with a paddy wagon with shackles and leg irons and handcuffs and take me, resisting, out the door; file me into jail and so forth.
None of that happened.
This was all arranged in advance. It was part of the deal. I walked over voluntarily. I was voluntarily processed, is what this is. Yes, there was a warrant. It's called a "capeas warrant" to keep the warrant out of the system all day so that the media wouldn't find out about it. We got in and out of there without a media circus taking place. I come back and find that I've been "arrested," and I got a note from Vince Flynn, the noted thriller author today. He said, "You know, I was scared to death! I was down in Ft. Lauderdale over the weekend and I was making a speech, and I'm sitting at the bar, and some guy's got his BlackBerry, and he's reading the story, 'Rush Limbaugh Arrested for Prescription Drug Fraud,' and I said to him, 'Oh, no! Is this new?' He said, 'Yeah. CNN says they just arrested him trying to illegally buy prescription drugs,'" and Vince writes, "I was totally crushed. I said when I heard it was CNN, though, I just couldn't believe it."
I found that I lot of people thought that that was the result, that this was something brand-new rather than the conclusion of a two-year, seven-month ordeal. There was no arrest; there was no handcuffs. There was no perp walk; there was no charge. I have not relapsed. I am as healthy and happy as I have ever been, ladies and gentlemen. A lot of that is due to you and your continuing loyalty here. You've stuck. |
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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