AP couple arrested for trafficking drugs

An Avon Park couple tried to pass off a fraudulent prescription for 120 Percocet and wound up in jail after pharmacists determined it was bogus, according to police.

Harold and Tina Venning, 44 and 27 respectively, of 9 W. Orange St., Avon Park, were both charged with trafficking in opium or a derivative, a first-degree felony. She was additionally charged with misdemeanor counts of altering a prescription and possessing a blank prescription form.

Both remained in the Highlands County Jail on Friday, with Harold's bond set at $50,000 and his wife's at $70,000.

Harold Venning went to the CVS Pharmacy in the Southgate Shopping Plaza on Aug. 19 and gave the pharmacist a prescription for Percocet, which is oxycodone, that had been issued to his wife. The employee told Venning the prescription was issued for Aug. 20 and could not be filled before then, according to the arrest report.

The pharmacist checked the prescription and saw it was issued by an eye doctor. She spoke with the office manager, who confirmed Tina Venning had an eye exam on Aug. 17.

"(The manager) also stated, under Florida law, eye doctors cannot prescribe opiates and Tina was not issued the prescription for oxycodone," Highlands County Sheriff's Det. John Singha, with the Special Investigations Unit, wrote in his report.

A week later, on Aug. 26, the HCSO was notified by CVS employees that Harold Venning came and purchased the 120 oxycodone for approximately $88.05. He was detained by law enforcement on suspicion of trafficking.

During questioning, Harold said he was innocent and that if the prescription was fraudulent, then his wife was the one to blame, the report stated.

Investigators searched his vehicle and reportedly found a prescription bottle for alprazolam. Inside were nine hydrocodone pills and not the medication that was listed.

When authorities spoke with Tina, she said her husband uses and sells prescription pain medicine that is issued to him, the report stated.

Law enforcement searched her home and reportedly found non-prescribed oxycodone and two blank prescription forms in her purse.