Sheriff's Office: Another big fish netted in West Volusia drug probe

BOOKING PHOTO COURTESY VCSO
Netted – Giovanni Scorpio is the latest defendant in the DeBary-centered drug probe that's been ongoing for several months. Scorpio was arrested Dec. 18 and charged with two counts of conspiracy to traffic in Oxycodone.

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Dec 22, 2009 - 2:14:02pm

In what the Volusia County Sheriff's Office called "another big arrest" in an ongoing investigation, deputies arrested 39-year-old Giovanni Scorpio Dec. 18 on warrants charging him with two counts of conspiracy to traffic in Oxycodone. He's being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail under $500,000 bond.

Nearly two dozen people have been arrested in the drug ring police say was headed by John Davey of DeBary, whom investigators called "the mastermind of a massive pill-pushing criminal enterprise."

Investigators said Davey was running a ring of more than 30 people from DeBary. Davey would allegedly supply ring members fraudulent prescriptions to obtain Oxycodone — more than 14,000 tablets of the powerful narcotic — from the Pierson Community Pharmacy. According to investigators, the pills were then sold on the street or used to pay accomplices.

Investigators said the ring purchased more than $17,550 worth of the drugs between July 8 and Sept. 23. The street value of the Oxycodone was around $140,000.

The Sheriff's Office arrested Davey in September for trafficking in illegal drugs and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. He posted $30,000 bond and was released. Investigators rearrested him Oct. 2, pressing the additional charge of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, after determining the scope of the operation. Davey remains at the Branch Jail under $1 million bond.

Investigators broke up the ring of accomplices with 15 arrests Oct. 30. Then, they said more arrests would be made as the probe continued.

Scorpio's name kept coming up in interviews during the investigation.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Gary Davidson noted, "At least five witnesses, including Davey, said Scorpio was part of the scheme, leading investigators to believe that he was one of the key figures in the operation."

Investigators obtained a subpoena to seize prescriptions from the Winn-Dixie pharmacy in DeLand, where investigators had been told an associate of Scorpio's was filling forged prescriptions. Investigators said Scorpio's fingerprints were lifted from two forged prescriptions, which helped them obtain the arrest warrant.

— pat@beacononlinenewscom

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