NY: The brother-in-law of Florida Lt Governor Jennifer Carroll has been indicted on charges of illegally distributing prescription pain medication.
Edward Beckles, 59, who owns and operates his own pharmacy in Pasco County, appeared in court Monday on charges of providing prescription pain medication such as Oxycodone to two drug rings that have known activity in the area.
According to the Daily Mail report, the allegations come days after Carroll’s damaging statement saying that women who look like her are not lesbians, and her own legal headache over an alleged affair with a female staffer.
Beckles, who is married to Carroll’s sister, is accused of filing fraudulent pain killer prescriptions for the drug rings. His pharmacy was raided earlier this month on the conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute, the Grio reported.
It was the culmination of a gruelling two-year investigation by the DEA and the Pasco County Sheriff’s office.
Carroll’s office issued a statement Tuesday saying that the Lt Governor was ‘not familiar with Mr Beckles’ arrest or his business practices and she has never visited his pharmacy.
'She is surprised and saddened that this has happened to her sister’s family.’
Last week, she apologised for offending lesbians when she said black women who engage in same sex relationships don't look like her.
Carroll made the controversial remarks more than two weeks ago while denying allegations from a fired staffer who claims she walked in on the politician and a female travel aide in a compromising position.
'It is wrong and inexcusable to make a comment that hurts people, and that was not my intention,' Carroll wrote in a letter to Equality Florida, a group that seeks equal rights for gays and lesbians, on Thursday.
'As a Christian, my faith guides me to love and respect all people. The false charges that have been lodged against me are no excuse for what I have said.'
The claims about Carroll were made by fired staffer Carletha Cole, who is charged with secretly taping a conversation with Carroll's chief of staff.
Cole allegedly gave the recording to a newspaper reporter.
'Please know that I am committed to treating every person with the utmost respect and dignity and I hope you will accept my heartfelt apology,' Carroll, who has been married for 29 years and has three children, wrote.
Nadine Smith, Equality Florida's executive director, said the governor also called her to apologise for her comments.
'I want to thank the lieutenant governor for taking responsibility for her words and for responding to the harm those words inflicted,' Smith said.
'Apologies by elected leaders for public mistakes are rare and it is to the lieutenant governor's credit that she has taken this step.'
When asked about the claims made by her ex-employee Cole, the Republican replied: 'Usually black women that look like me don't engage in relationships like that.'
The controversy arose after Cole was fired and subsequently prosecuted for allegedly taping a conversation with another aide and illegally leaking it to a newspaper.
However, she claimed that the real reason she had been sacked was because she walked in on Carroll having sex with a female aide, Beatriz Ramos.
When the lieutenant governor was asked about the sensational allegations by WTSP, she said: 'The problem is that when you have these accusations that come out, it's not just one person you're attacking. It's an entire family.
'My husband doesn't want to hear that. He knows the type of woman I am... I'm the one that's married for twenty-nine years. The accuser is the one that's been single for a long time.
'So usually black women that look like me don't engage in relationships like that.'
Cole said earlier this month that she witnessed Carroll and Ramos, in a 'compromising position' inside Carroll's office.
She also claimed that Carroll's chief of staff secretly recorded conversations at the direction of those working for governor Rick Scott, and that the trash can at Cole's desk might have been deliberately set ablaze following an argument between her and Ramos.
Cole also said Ramos was living at the lieutenant governor's home and at one point she was ordered by Ramos to find adjoining hotel rooms for the pair when they traveled.
The disgruntled aide said that she was 'scolded' by Carroll's security team when she placed Ramos next door to Carroll when the lieutenant governor and her husband traveled to Puerto Rico last summer.
The agent told her to not do it again, Cole said, but did not explain why.
Lieutenant governor Carroll, a former Navy officer who is also a mother-of-three, said the allegations are all lies.
'That's totally false and absurd,' said Carroll, a former Republican legislator who was chosen by Scott as his running mate in 2010.
Carroll said the allegations are an attempt by Cole and her attorney to get the criminal charges against Cole dropped. The former aide was charged with a third-degree felony and could serve up to five years in prison.
Carroll said: 'They are trying to pull at straws. All this stuff you mentioned doesn't excuse what happened.'
