Pubdate: Wed, 11 Sep 2002
Source: Deseret News (UT)
Copyright: 2002 Deseret News Publishing Corp.
Contact:  http://www.desnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/124
Author: Mike Branom

MORE WOE FOR JEB BUSH DAUGHTER?

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush's 25-year-old daughter was found with what 
was believed to be crack cocaine at a drug rehab center where she was 
undergoing court-ordered treatment, police said.

If confirmed, it would be Noelle Bush's second lapse since entering rehab 
and could result in jail.

Police late Monday were called to the Center for Drug Free Living in 
Orlando, where workers gave them a 0.2-gram rock they said they found in 
Noelle Bush's shoe, Sgt. Orlando Rolon said.

The rock tested positive for cocaine in a police field test, but Bush was 
not immediately arrested because police could not get staff members at the 
rehab center to cooperate and give sworn statements, Rolon said.

A patient had called police, but staffers tried to persuade them to let the 
center follow its standard policy of handling the matter internally, Rolon 
said.

The center's president and chief executive, Jerry Feulner, declined comment 
Tuesday, citing privacy concerns.

After a meeting in Orlando, the governor said his daughter must "resolve in 
her heart and mind that she needs to change."

"She needs to accept responsibility. She knows that we love her. She knows 
a whole lot of people care for her, but it is up to her. There are no 
excuses," Jeb Bush said.

She was arrested in January at a pharmacy drive-through window for 
allegedly trying to buy the anti-anxiety drug Xanax with a fraudulent 
prescription. She was admitted to the treatment center a month later, with 
the possibility charges would be dropped if she completed the program.

In July, she was found with prescription drugs that had been taken from a 
cabinet at the rehab center. She spent three days in jail before being 
allowed to return to rehab.

State Attorney's Office spokesman Randy Means said if Bush is charged with 
drug possession, she could be kicked out of the treatment program and 
prosecuted on the fraudulent-prescription charge, which is punishable by up 
to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
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