Wakeboarder Darin Shapiro arrested, accused of running pill mills

ORLANDO, Fla.,None — First, drug agents took down two Orlando doctors accused of running pill mills. The doctors worked at two clinics off Curry Ford Road and Orange Avenue, and were arrested last week.

Now, investigators said they've busted the masterminds behind the operation. Investigators said a father and two sons ran the two pain clinics that doled out thousands of pain pills per day.

One of the suspects arrested is world-famous wakeboarder Darin Shapiro.

The suspects were arrested in Hawaii. Shapiro and his father and brother have extradited to Orange County.

"He was a world-famous wakeboarder. Now he's a world-famous drug trafficker," said FDLE Special Agent Supervisor Tom Foy.
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In-depth coverage:   Florida Pill Mills

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A joint FDLE and MBI investigation accuses the Shapiros of masterminding a drug trafficking enterprise that put millions of prescription pills on Central Florida streets.

"This was one of the worst probably in the state of Florida," Foy said.

The Shapiros operated two local pain clinics: Pain Relief Center off South Orange Avenue and Pain Relief Center of Orlando off Woolco Way. Both shops were closed Friday.

Agents first raided them last summer, and they've been building their case ever since.

On Feb. 2, two doctors that worked at the clinics were arrested. A day after the doctors were picked up in Central Florida, the Shapiros were arrested in Hawaii, where they moved after the raids.

"They were the ones directing the doctors in this drug trafficking operation," Foy said.

According to an FDLE report, during a three-month period, one of the Shapiros' doctors, Dr. Aron Rotman, wrote 124 prescriptions a day and doled out a total of nearly 300,000 oxycodone pills.

Dr. Rotman is still behind bars Friday. All three of the Shapiros are in jail as well. Each of their bonds is set at $750,000.

The other doctor who was arrested, Riyaz Jummani, bonded out, but had to surrender his license to practice.

WFTV