Glamorous Florida doctor, 72, grins in her mugshot as her opioid ‘pill mill’ is exposed

A Florida doctor appeared to beam with delight when she was arrested for killing her patients with large amounts of opioids.

Dr. Elaine Cecil Sharp, 72, is accused of running a “pill mill” from her Gulf Breeze practice, leading to the deaths of at least 12 of her patients.

Area pharmacies refused to do business with her as they began discussing the reckless prescriptions that were netting her tens of thousands of dollars.

Ten other people who sold Sharp’s prescription drugs have also been arrested in connection with the enterprise that investigators say has turned the Santa Rosa County town into a hot spot of the state’s illegal drug trade.

“Shutting down this pill mill has undoubtedly made our community safer,” said Special Agent Chris Williams of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

FDLE agents seized $20,000 in cash when they raided her operation last July

“We know that this drug ring, led by Dr. Elaine Sharp, has been a major contributor to illegal drugs flooding into our neighborhoods and even attracting drug dealers from across the Southeast looking for an easy way to obtain these drugs .’

The University of Texas-Houston medical grad spent most of her career as a respected obstetrician and gynecologist, but began prescribing opioids in 2017, according to researchers.

Pharmacists alerted the DEA in 2021 after discovering that one of her patients, referred to as “DD” in charging documents, had died of acute oxycodone toxicity after being prescribed 120 tablets of oxycodone 30 mg.

The Florida Department of Health saw an exponential increase in opioid orders at its El Rito Drive practice, with more than 3,000 prescriptions for controlled substances issued in the year through August 2022.

A joint FBI-FDLE task force was formed and two agents tried to join her patient list, but discovered that new entrants had to be recommended by an existing client.

“This unusual practice allows Dr. Sharp to control her clientele and ensure that new patients are aware of and complicit in her inappropriate prescribing patterns before they become patients,” the FDLE reported.

‘Therefore, it is unlikely that she will see Dr. Sharp will report to any regulatory or law enforcement agency.”

The glamorous physician spent most of her career as a respected obstetrician and gynecologist, but began prescribing opioids in 2017, according to researchers.

Investigators said she turned her harmless practice into a center of the illegal drug trade in Florida

When someone broke into the practice, he discovered that Sharp ran a cash-only business and “coached” him on what to say to qualify for opioid prescriptions.

In June of last year, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo signed an emergency order banning her from prescribing or ordering controlled substances, and FDLE agents raided her office the following month and seized $20,000 in cash.

“Multiple pharmacies and individual pharmacists have also raised concerns about Dr. Sharp’s regulated prescribing practices,” Lapado wrote.

“Since 2019, pharmacists have refused to fill Dr. Sharp’s prescriptions for controlled substances due to concerns that Dr. Sharp was improperly prescribing high doses and dangerous combinations of controlled substances.”

The FDLE found that between 2017 and 2022, 12 of its patients had died after narcotic overdoses.

Sharp was arrested Thursday and booked in Santa Rosa County on charges of murder, manslaughter and racketeering.

She is also accused of unlawfully prescribing medications for financial gain and prescribing medications that were not medically necessary.

Additional charges include conspiracy in oxycodone 100 grams or more, conspiracy in hydromorphone 28 grams or more, conspiracy in hydrocodone 100 grams or more, and money laundering.

The arrest stunned the 72-year-old doctor’s former patients in Gulf Breeze

Ten others have been arrested on charges including racketeering and conspiracy

Ten others have been arrested on charges including racketeering and conspiracy trafficking, while one, 53-year-old Mickey Bowman of Pensacola, remains on the run.

The allegations have shocked some of the glamorous doctor’s former patients, who remembered her as “amazing.”

“She delivered my first two babies and my nephew,” Jamie Hayes wrote on Facebook. “I absolutely loved her.”

‘Good people sometimes make bad decisions. I love her!’ added Renee Blackwell Neely.

“There was a time when she was a good doctor,” Mary Mattheiss noted. “It’s a shame she let drugs and greed become part of her life.”