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Florida House Candidate Perritt Arrested On Drug Trafficking Charges
July 27, 2010
Florida House District 1 candidate Ricky Perritt was arrested on drug trafficking charges Monday night by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.
For an update on this story, click here.
Perritt, 43, is being held without bond on felony charges of withholding information from a practitioner to obtain a controlled substance, obtaining a prescription by fraud, and trafficking in hydrocodone.
On June 30, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint from a local physician’s office alleging that Perritt had fraudulently obtained hydrocodone through his wife, a former employee of the office, who called in several prescriptions for hydrocodone for herself and Perritt.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents allege that between December 2009 and July 2010, Perritt visited several physicians within the Santa Rosa county area for the purposes of obtaining hydrocodone. Agents say Perritt did not disclose to any of the physicians that he had already been prescribed hydrocodone by another physician. More than 1,200 hydrocodone pills were fraudulently obtained during this time period.
According to Perritt’s campaign website, he worked for the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, achieving the rank of sergeant.
His arrest came after his wife Jennifer Perritt, 38, was arrested last week on the same charges. A statement issued after her arrest by Perritt’s campaign said Jennifer Perritt has suffered from a degenerative spinal condition for the past seven years, and that she became addicted to her prescribed pain medications.
In that statement, Ricky Perritt said he was “consulting with the appropriate professionals to evaluate the situation” with his wife, and he asked for prayers for her.
Perritt announced Friday that despite his wife’s arrest, he would continue his bid for the Florida House. “I am running to give the common citizens a voice in Tallahassee,” Perritt said on Friday. “We must remember that leadership is earned, not inherited.”
Perritt’s campaign had not released any statement concerning his arrest as of early Tuesday morning.
Jeniffer Perritt was released from jail last week on $31,000 bond.
Florida House District 1 includes the northern two-thirds of Escambia County, most of Santa Rosa County and a portion of Okaloosa County. The seat is being vacated by Greg Evers who is running for Florida Senate District 2.
Comments
36 Responses to “Florida House Candidate Perritt Arrested On Drug Trafficking Charges”
There is an update to this story here:
http://www.northescambia.com/?p=23395
It was also the top story on our front page at the time you posted your comment.
Ricky was supposed to give a statement today (Wednesday). Anyone heard anything?
I do not know the Perritt Family but my prayers will be with ya’ll on this journey. To my knowledge on medicine ( for pain ) or anyother med’s after you take it a while (say year’s) Everyone of us on here knows your body will build up a tolerance to it. and unfortunately some people will become addictive to the medication. I have the same back problem (DDD) as Mrs. Perritt, But unlike Mrs. DJ I have not had 5 surgerys but only 2 back surgery’s where I have had metal rods put in and fusion done. I have relied on these medications to reduce pain and to give me a slight portion of my life back.
To DJ I take my hat off to you for not needing pain medication. I am just wondering what kind of surgery you had and also I would like to know do you also work , I do.
Kayla- You couldn’t have said it much better than that!!!!
These people need to think of the demons in their family, before they start bashing others.
Your mother and step father are definitely in my prayers, and he still has my vote no matter what!
Please watch what you post for sake of Jennifers children. Ricky does not have any kids, but if he did I wouldn’t want any of them hurt either. Kayla sounds pretty hurt and I feel sorry for her. It is not the childrens fault what their parents do.
REGARDING:
“It’s always great to be convicted before a trial.”
It DOES save time.
I guess it balances out, though. We have the people who want to claim folks are good after they start riots, call in bomb threats, rob stores and admit to leaving cocked guns around on the streets to kill passers-by (or maybe shoot out tires) or whatever they may have done, and the folks who want to hang anybody accused of anything.
It’s fun to speculate but ultimately best to leave the official response to judge and jury. It doesn’t mean we have to vote for someone over others who are not accused of wrongdoing, though.
David thinking politics is entertaining
or we wouldn’t be discussing it
godd all of yall are soo petty i hope you know that. so judgemental. my family has their demons,and were facing them. in front of all of yall.and guess what yall are doing. making us stronger
so thankyou for the mean and hateful words about my mother and stepfather,because all yall are doing is making them hold their head up higher! people that live in the pace/milton area THINK they know “the perritts” but in reality they dont. my mother and stepfather are great people and anybody that says otherwise doesnt know my family at all.
I really wish that people would STOP blaming the doctors! Yes they do hand out prescriptions, but the patient is the one that CHOOSES to fill it or not. It’s the PATIENT who gets themselves addicted to these kind of meds, not the doctors. The doctor can only go on what the patient tells them….correct?
I know this for a fact because I have had (5) surgeries since January 09′ and have been given the opportunity to the same kind of meds after each surgery. Did I except them NO I DIDN’T! I was woman enough to tell the doctor that I didn’t need them because I still had some from my (1st) surgery. FACT: I was a patient and I chose NOT to except the prescription when asked if I needed more……..now that is what I call making a responsible decision……end of story!
PLEASE STOP THE PITTY PARTY FOR THE PERRITT’S!
I don’t feel sorry for either of them and I sure don’t want him in office. I can only hope and pray that they will not be given SPECIAL treatment because he was LE. If anything I hope they throw the book at both of them.
molino jim: i never said “all” police are this way! and yes their is a lot of other professions that do things not by the book! but none of these other professions can pull me over in my car and cast false judgement on me when they commit some of these same crimes! i know a lot of police officers and more of them are NOT by the book than are! im sorry if i offended you but i know what i see! just go to youtube and you will see things from these cops filmed by there own dashcams and you can see anything from brutal beatings on teen girls to drugs being planted on people! face it, most of our law enforcement is out of control!
Whether you think he was helping his wife or not, that is not the kind of help she needed. It is against the law to doctor shop (visiting multiple doctors with the purpose of receiving narcotic prescriptions without notifying the doctors that you have received the meds from other mds) and as a sergeant of the SRSO he should have known that. I am not convicting him, just stating the facts. These medications are highly addictive and some doctors are handing out scripts like they are candy. As someone who works in a pharmacy, I deal with it every day. He and his family are in my prayers. I hope that this will get them the help that they need.
Boy this article and the next one really make you want to rush out and vote. Where are the candidates that are not in the news for being stupid?
It’s always great to be convicted before a trial.
I TRIED to tell all of you on the other articles what snakes these 2 are….now maybe you get it
Ye who have not sinned may cast the first stone.
Looks like no one has the right to sit there and knock down others!!!!!!!!!!!
Seems this kind of thing just keeps popping up over and over agin in Santa Rosa county, this is sad, sad ,sad !!
These stories are sad. I understand chronic pain but also understand that one must control their medication instead of lettling it control them. When my son had emergency surgery last year the Navy doctors told him not to drive for 10 hours after he had taken Lortab. Then I went to the orthopedic doctor with my daughter and asked him about her taking the same medicine and driving. He just laughed at me and told me that if the Navy doctors were right there were a lot of people on road driving that he had personally prescribed Lortab and stronger med. for. If doctors take this kind of medicine so lightly — Who are the real drug dealers? Needless to say I told my daughter to follow the Navy doctors advise. However, there are many people who think that they can not get a DUI or worse if they are caught with this kind of strong medicine in thier system. Addiction to these medicines are getting worse all the time and sometimes, I believe, that doctors are responsible for it. Needless to say neither myself or my daughter will take these meds if we need to drive.. I do feel sorry for the lady and her chronic pain because i know how it feels to hurt. But, better to suffer than to become addictied and ruin one’s life and maybe in the process take others with you. Yes, I know the story did not mention her driving – just pointing out that many people do without realizing how impaired they really are.
It appears as if some of the posters are assuming that Ricky Perritt has already been found guilty. There is a presumption of innocence, until one is found guilty in a court of law.
karma ….karma…….karma
wait-n-see: PLEASE DO NOT PAINT ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS WITH THE SAME BRUSH. I’ve know people in all sorts of fields (doctor/lawyers/judges and so on who did not play or follow the “RULES”—I feel sure you very well do also.
reply to “little boy caught”
When you choose to run for “public” office your life is no longer personal. You are held to a higher standard like it or not. Lets face it some bad decisions were made on he and his wife’s part and his political career is likely DOA. Whether innocent or not, the damage has been done.
as for “hush” you know something on Broxson that the rest of us don’t?? please share…
The honorable thing for Mr. Perritt to do is withdraw from running for the office and let someone else step in to fill his place. Even if he is not guilty his integrity has been damaged. Hopefully there is someone who can step in and do the job.We need people who will stand up for our district .
when things like this happens and then you see the corruption with some of our police officers, it is no wonder that we trust the people in authority less and less!
dang. guess he thought he wouldn’t get caught? crazy. guess it’s safe to say he is pretty much out of the running now huh?
So he threw the sympathy card in on his wife meanwhile he was either helping her or he was the problem to begin with. what a creep.
“All in all perritt is still for us small town fellas his personal life is just that personal yall !”
PLEASE tell me I read this wrong? Someone who wants to be in a position of gov’t is arrested on felony drug charges and you want to let bygones be bygones?? We have enough dopehead (and just plain dopes) in gov’t, we don’t need to knowingly add another!!
Its to sad ferd salomon is tied in with team Santa Rosa ! All in all perritt is still for us small town fellas his personal life is just that personal yall !
Perritt and brown are still very much in this race wait till later this week when broxson is hauled off to jail as well this race has just begun perritt did this to help his wife he didn’t do this for greed as did brown or try and get away with the things broxson did so we shall see !
To me it is worse to pull up your foes signs on camera that shows greed and will do anything to win even if that means cheat then lie to our faces and say he wasent doing anything wrong I will take perritts personal problems instead of browns public problems how pathetic !
Ok where are all the people that were posting on Jennifers article about how sorry they felt for her and what Ricky was going through?
Haha. Did you not see this coming? Did you not understand that the 620k bond was an indication that you cant possibly take that many meds and still be breathing? I understand that he is concerned for his wife and is consulting with professionals….is a drug lord considered a proffessional?
Well Isn’t that just real nice! I think he can probably now forget about running for Florida House District 1, after this arrest on these charges. I don’t feel that we need someone on drugs in there…
Well what do you know?
oop’s
Stick a fork in him because he doesn’t have a chance of getting elected.
I’m not surprised. Select leaders who have Integrity and a servant attitude.
My, My, the plot doth thicken…
1st they are politicians..now they are into drugs…Oh what is the world comming to??