SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office announced on Tuesday the arrest of a woman who investigators said was dealing opioids at a drug treatment facility.
Investigators said Misty Leigh Gilley was selling fentanyl to patients out of the facility, Simply Recovery, and at her home.
Sheriff Dennis Lemma made the announcement during a news conference Tuesday morning. He said that the investigators learned about what was happening at Simply Recovery when a person who was undergoing treatment had relapsed.
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“When he shared with us that he had relapsed — the most recent location where he was buying was from this person (Gilley) who was operating and running this facility — you can imagine it didn’t take long for us to be; one, incredibly frustrated and two, to act swiftly to do all that we can to make sure that we got her into custody and held her accountable for what is going on,” Lemma said.
Lemma said deputies found Gilley with fentanyl and cocaine. When deputies searched the facility, Lemma said they found “multiple fentanyl baggies found inside of her backpack and then empty baggies inside the garbage can with fentanyl residue.”
“The people who are going into recovery are one of the most vulnerable populations,” Lemma said. “You get hooked on these opioids — it is a very deadly and destructive path and course and for this person to take advantage of those vulnerable people, I am just absolutely speechless on what was going on there.”
Lemma said the Drug Enforcement Administration is now taking over the investigation and will be looking into the doctor who is prescribed at Simply Recovery.
“This particular doctor was one time penalized during the height of the pill mill epidemic for overprescribing,” the sheriff said.
He later added, “I’m not accusing the doctor of anything. What I’m saying is, if that operation is going on in your building — well, in my business, they call that a clue. If you’re saying you don’t know anything is going on and there are dirty syringes and bloody pieces of bandages in the garbage, you either got to be blind or involved. So, I’m very interested to what our folks in DEA has to say about what his knowledge is. And again, it should be no coincidence that this doctor was cited one time for overprescribing.”