Tracknum: .f2133021.2505faa4 Pubdate: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 1999 The Miami Herald Contact: One Herald Plaza, Miami FL 33132-1693 Fax: (305) 376-8950 Website: http://www.herald.com/ Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?mherald Author: DAVID D'ADDIO, Herald Writer DRUGGIST CHARGED IN DEATHS Case linked to April arrest of physician A former Coral Springs pharmacist was arrested at his home in a nudist resort Friday, indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly doling out thousands of painkillers, depressants and sleeping pills which may have resulted in the deaths of at least four South Florida residents. Donald Arneson's arrest was part of a sweeping 287-count indictment and ties the former pharmacist to Barbara Mazzella, the Coral Springs doctor suspected in as many as 12 South Florida deaths. Federal agents say Mazzella, 61, arrested April 1 in a highly publicized raid, wrote the prescriptions that Arneson filled. Also indicted Friday was Mazzella's office assistant Barbara Garafola, 54, who kept the books at Mazzella's nondescript office in a West Sample Road strip mall. Prosecutors charge that Garafola, together with Mazzella, submitted numerous false Medicare claims, collecting money for procedures Mazzella never performed. Together, the three ran one of the busiest pill mills in the nation, federal agents said. The 12 deaths the trio have been tied to -- patients who died of drug overdoses or committed suicide -- are identified in the indictment by their initials only. Arneson, 57, was denied bail Friday morning and remains in federal custody, facing 51 counts of illegally distributing controlled substances. Mazzella, whose medical license was revoked in late May, has been in Miami's federal detention center since she was first arrested in April. The new indictment replaces the lesser charges she initially faced. "It does not in any way affect her innocence," attorney Bruce Zimet said. "I guess they're thinking if you throw enough stuff against the wall, something will stick." Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Nicholson, who will prosecute the case, was in court Friday afternoon and could not be reached for comment. DEA agents said they began investigating Mazzella four years ago after receiving complaints from local pharmacists about the volume of Mazzella's prescriptions for powerful drugs including the narcotics Percocet and Tuinal, and the depressants Valium and Seconal. When drugstores stopped filling Mazzella's prescriptions, the government says she recruited Arneson, who set up shop inside her office in January 1997. Arneson ran Don's Clinic Pharmacy, which stocked the drugs Mazzella prescribed. Patients could walk in and pay $100 cash to receive a prescription and could buy the pills at Arneson's shop. The stakes are higher for both Mazzella and Arneson now that prosecutors have tied the prescriptions to at least 12 deaths. If convicted, both Mazzella and Arneson could spend life in prison. According to the indictment, Arneson also stands to forfeit his home in Pompano Beach home and his condominium unit at the nudist Paradise Lakes Resort and Condominiums in Lutz, Fla., where he was arrested Friday. Official records from the state Board of Pharmacy were not immediately available Friday, but a staff member estimated Arneson earned his pharmaceutical license in the mid-to late-1970s, based on his license number.