Gulf Breeze doctor accused of running pill mill may be forced to forfeit $27K

Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal
Updated ·5 min read

A Santa Rosa County judge ruled Monday to strike a Gulf Breeze doctor's affirmative defenses to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement seizing over $27,000 from multiple bank accounts.

Elaine Sharp, an OB/GYN based in Gulf Breeze, is currently embroiled in a civil case with FDLE as it seeks to seize money from Sharp's accounts after she allegedly benefitted from a racketeering scheme and a practice of overprescribing of controlled substances.

FDLE filed a probable cause application on June 30, 2023, and Sharp's attorney, Dixie Powell, filed a list of affirmative defenses against the state law enforcement agency's case. However, Judge Clifton Drake sided with FDLE after the agency filed a motion to strike Powell's defenses.

"Looking in these affirmative defenses, I don't see any facts," Drake told the attorneys during a Zoom hearing. "I see lots of legal principles ... but just because some of these statements in the affirmative defense are true doesn't make them affirmative defenses."

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One of the main objections Powell said he has to FDLE's allegations is proving the money they're attempting to seize is linked to any contraband or other criminal offense. He claims the FDLE failed "to establish a nexus or relationship between the possession" and a criminal enterprise.

However, as Drake said, the filing does not provide any facts as to why any money is not connected to a crime or why FDLE's accusation are false.

Drake told Powell that his affirmative defense is just a list of conclusions as to why FDLE wouldn't be able to prove their case − rather than providing facts as to why FDLE is incorrect − and ruled his filing stricken. The judge did allow Powell 20 days to refile a list of affirmative defenses to the case.

Why is FDLE trying to take Elaine Sharp's money?

In June 2023, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo signed an emergency order to restrict Sharp from prescribing or ordering controlled substances after a task force of agents from FDLE, the FBI and deputies from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties found that Sharp "was engaging in suspicious practices and dangerous prescribing patterns."

"Between August 2021 and August 2022, Dr. Sharp issued over 3,000 prescriptions for controlled substances," state documents say. "Multiple pharmacies and individual pharmacists have also indicated concern regarding Dr. Sharp's controlled substance practices."

The document says that pharmacies in the area have refused to fill prescriptions written by Sharp since 2019, and Walmart Pharmacy has issued a blanket refusal to fill any prescription with Sharp's name.

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As more and more pharmacists grew leery of Sharp's prescription practices, many reported her to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, saying she prescribed controlled pain medications "in significantly higher doses than other pain management physicians."

Some of the concerns cited include Sharp prescribing 120 tablets of 4 milligram hydromorphone, "which is a large quantity of a powerful opioid drug," and prescribing high doses of controlled substances without performing the necessary physical or pain examinations.

The report also notes that one of her patients designated as "D.D." died of an accidental overdose March 2, 2021, of acute oxycodone toxicity after the patient filled a prescription from Sharp for 120 tablets of oxycodone 30 milligrams.

As a result, state law enforcement served a search warrant on her medical office June 22, 2023.

Is Elaine Sharp charged with a crime?

As part of the civil case, FDLE alleges that Sharp obtained $27,769.11 through various crimes including:

  • Conspiracy to commit racketeering

  • Conspiracy to traffic in schedule II controlled substances

  • Unlawfully prescribing controlled substances

  • Unlawfully prescribing controlled substances for monetary gain

  • Unlawfully prescribing controlled substances not medically necessary

  • Money laundering

Although FDLE told Drake in 2023 that they planned to file felony charges against her by the end of the year, no criminal charges have been filed against Sharp.

Who is Dr. Elaine Sharp?

According to the Florida Department of Health, Sharp obtained her initial licensure as a medical doctor in 1989 and primarily practiced in the specialty area of obstetrics and gynecology.

She studied medicine at University of Texas-Houston and conducted her residency in Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to her health department practitioner profile. She ultimately opened her own practice on El Rito Drive in Gulf Breeze.

In 2017, Sharp began prescribing controlled substances for both opioid addiction treatment and for the treatment of chronic malignant pain. According to the health department, Sharp soon developed a reputation for prescribing pain medications in significantly higher doses than other pain management physicians.

Prior to the current investigation, Sharp had no recorded disciplinary or administrative actions taken against her, according to Florida Department of Health records.

Why can FDLE seize Dr. Elaine Sharp's money without an arrest?

Although normally a law enforcement agency must charge an individual with a crime prior to seizing property, Miami private attorney Robert Becerra says the only exception is if criminal contraband is money.

"Florida has a very specific procedure ... and it provides that the state can seek forfeiture of different items," Becerra told the News Journal. "One of the things is, forfeitures like this are not supposed to happen unless the owner of the property is arrested. The exception to that is when the property is a monetary instrument."

Becerra said Florida Statutes has a "specific carve out" that says law enforcement only needs to have probable cause to seize money. Additionally, he says FDLE would need to send notice of the forfeiture for a judge's approval.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Dr. Elaine Sharp case: Gulf Breeze doctor accused of running pill mill