District One candidate arrested for doctor shopping (bond amount set)
Ricky Perritt a republican running for State Representative for District 1 turned himself into the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office and was charged with withholding information from a practitioner to obtain a controlled substance, obtaining a prescription by fraud and trafficking in hydrocodone following the arrest of his wife last week who was booked on similar charges.
As of Tuesday afternoon his bond Perritt bond was set at $22,000. Perritt was charged $3,000 on three counts of fraud, $3,000 on three counts of forgery and $16,000 on eight counts of drug trafficking.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agents arrested Perritt, 43, of Wallace Lake Rd. on the above charges after the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office received a complaint from a local physician’s office on June 30.
The complainant alleged 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.
Perritt’s wife, Jennifer Rene, was arrested on July 21 with 23 counts of drug trafficking, a first-degree felony; 31 counts of obtaining a controlled substance by forgery, a third-degree felony; and one third-degree felony count of fraud, according to a Santa Rosa County sheriff’s report.
According to the July 21 report, Jennifer worked as a medical assistant for a Pace doctor and according to the report, called in hydrocodone prescriptions for her and her friend between October 2009 and June 2010.
Jennifer was released after posting $31,000 bond following her Wednesday arrest.
FDLE agents suspect that between December 2009 and July 2010, Perritt visited several physicians within the Santa Rosa County area in order to obtain hydrocodone.
FLDE agents said that 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.
Perritt was hired by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office and served for 11 years and achieved Sergeant status before retiring in 2009 according to his political website.
Perritt graduated from Pace High School in 1986 and later enlisted in the army where he served in Operation Desert Storm and was later honorably discharged in 1992.
As of Tuesday morning, Perritt’s campaign website did not release any statements concerning the arrest.
District 1 includes northern portions of Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties.
Perritt turned himself just before 9:00 Monday night and was booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail with no bond.
Following his arraignment on Tuesday, Perritt was placed back in jail on bond.
