Vero Beach pharmacists testify in second day of Dr. Johnny Benjamin's federal drug trial

Editor’s note: This story has been modified from an earlier version.

FORT LAUDERDALE — In the shaky video recorded on a button camera, a man hands Vero Beach doctor Johnny Benjamin a brown paper bag in a parking lot behind the 37th Street office that once bore his name.

The video was played Monday in a Fort Lauderdale courtroom as the orthopedic surgeon’s trial on federal drug-trafficking charges ended its second full day of testimony.

The man in the video is Zachary Stewart, a Drug Enforcement Agency informant who pleaded guilty earlier this month to conspiring with Benjamin to distribute the pills on which Maggie Crowley, 34, overdosed Sept. 1, 2016.

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The pill Crowley took — small, round and blue, meant to resemble oxycodone — was actually packed with a lethal dose of furanyl fentanyl.

Illicit fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can be 50 times more powerful than heroin, is a frequent cause of overdoses, in part because the drug is often mixed into opioid products without the users’ awareness, according to the DEA.

Crowley’s death spurred a yearlong investigation that led the DEA to Benjamin, who could spend life in prison if convicted on the seven federal drug charges he faces.

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Prosecuting the case are assistant U.S. attorneys John McMillan and Rolando Garcia and DEA Special Agent Michael Buemi. Benjamin is represented by attorneys Donnie Murrell, of West Palm Beach, and Andy Metcalf, of Vero Beach.

District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas is presiding.

Tuesday’s testimony

In the video, filmed in early October one week before Benjamin’s initial arrest, Benjamin is seen wearing a long-sleeved striped shirt and tie. He stands at first behind the trunk of a car and places the brown bag inside.

Inside the bag were 4,000 fake pills provided by the DEA, Stewart said. Stewart and Benjamin had discussed for several days prior the prices and quantities of "blues," which Stewart said was a slang term for counterfeit oxycodone pills like those sold to Crowley by another DEA informant, Kevan Slater.

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"It ain’t like the (expletive) we had through Kevan where the (expletive) girl croaked," Stewart assured Benjamin in the video.

After a few minutes, Stewart and Benjamin walk inside through the back door of Pro Spine Center, 1355 37th St.

Stewart, who said he had been in the office many times in his years of doing business with Benjamin, exchanged pleasantries with a woman inside before the two settled into Benjamin’s office for a 15-minute discussion on what prosecutors said was a conspiracy to distribute the counterfeited pills.

Benjamin tells Stewart about his intentions to distance himself from where the drugs are sold, prosecutors noted.

"My approach is to do it there and not here," Benjamin is heard saying.

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The day after the videotaped conversation, Benjamin was stopped at Melbourne-Orlando International Airport after he attempted to board a flight to Philadelphia carrying thousands of the counterfeit pills supplied by Stewart.

The pills were seized, and Benjamin was arrested six days later by the Indian River County Sheriff's Office before being sent to a Miami federal detention center to await trial.

Phony prescriptions

The first charge Stewart, 35, and Slater, 29, pleaded guilty to earlier this month dealt with the conspiracy to distribute drugs leading to Crowley’s overdose.

The second charge was that the pair conspired with Benjamin to possess and distribute other synthetic opioids throughout 2016 by obtaining bogus prescriptions from Benjamin and filling them at various Vero Beach pharmacies.

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Pharmacists from Bailey’s and Perkins pharmacies testified Tuesday alongside four people who filled those prescriptions.

Those who filled the prescriptions each said Stewart would drive them to Benjamin’s office in Vero Beach, then he would go inside and return with prescriptions bearing Benjamin’s signature. None other than Stewart ever spoke with or saw Benjamin.

They would then fill the prescriptions at various local pharmacies, return to Benjamin's office and surrender the pills to Benjamin in exchange for two to five pills or nothing at all, they testified.

"I didn’t ask any questions," said Michael Gulker, 29, of Royal Palm Beach.

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One of the prescriptions was for 480 pills, a prescription both Vero Beach pharmacists agreed would be very difficult to fulfill in most Florida pharmacies for legal reasons.

This, Benjamin’s attorney argued, was indicative that Benjamin did not actually write the prescriptions.

"Any doctor would know that a script for 480 pills wouldn’t get filled, right?" Murrell asked.

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"I would think just about all of them would know that is an excessive amount," said Gregg Jackson, pharmacist at Bailey’s Pharmacy, 780 U.S. 1. "That number just jumps out at you. Like, why so much?"

Gregory DeCrescenzo, who has been a pharmacist for 36 years, said he was around when Benjamin came to town and had filled several of Benjamin's prescriptions over the years at Perkins Indian River Pharmacy, 3721 10th Court.

He was asked to verify each prescription presented in court bore Benjamin’s signature and handwriting, and he said they appeared to.

"It’s almost impossible to counterfeit a prescription nowadays," DeCrescenzo said, acknowledging that because prescription pads aren't sequentially numbered like checks, it was certainly possible one could be taken.

"I’m not saying I’ve never been fooled."

What’s next

Testimony will continue throughout the week. Jurors will hear from law enforcement present during the Melbourne airport seizure, Indian River County Sheriff’s Office detectives who assisted with Benjamin’s arrest, various forensic experts and Benjamin’s wife, Marsha Benjamin.