INDIALANTIC, Fla.,None — A Brevard Co. doctor bonded out of jail Tuesday night, following his arrest for a sex-for-drugs trade, and WFTV has learned that this isn't the first time Gayden has been arrested for this crime.
Dr. John Gayden of Indialantic is one of the top pain pill prescribers in the county, prescribing more than 250,000 oxycodone pills in eight months, according to investigators. That amount is enough to nearly top the number of pills distributed in the entire state of California last year.
Investigators said they had the evidence they needed for the charges involving the underage teen Gayden is accused of having sex with, and prosecutors could still add drug charges after reviewing the case.
Gayden has been down this road once before. A little more than two years ago, he was arrested after sheriff's deputies said he had sex with a minor and gave the girl drugs.
But prosecutors dropped the charges after they had problems with the evidence and key witnesses changed their stories.
Authorities said they have been investigating him in part because he is known for writing more prescriptions for pain medications than any other doctor in Central Florida. More oxycodone pills are distributed in Florida than all the other 49 states combined. Officials said 98 of the top 100 doctors in the country who dispense the powerful drugs are in Florida. Prescription drugs are the number one killer of middle-aged Floridians.
Police said they have also been investigating prescription abuse accusations made as far away as Winter Park, where the doctor recently bought a $1 million condo.
Neighbors in Indialantic said his clinic was bringing down the community.
"Everyone was kind of aware of what was going on here for a long time, so I think it's good," said neighbor Judy Walton.
But a woman who declined to give her name said she has seen the doctor several times, and said the doctor was prescribing pain pills when people needed them.
"When they come to you with a legit MRI, what are they supposed to do? I've seen people with neck braces and back braces," she said.
Meanwhile, the state has taken away Gayden's medical license, and he won't be able to write any more prescriptions, but his patients can still fill the prescriptions he already wrote them.
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