ST. LUCIE MAN WHO ROBBED PHARMACIES FOR OXYCONTIN GETS PLEA DEAL

FORT PIERCE - A man accused of robbing pharmacies to feed an
OxyContin addiction after Dr. Ascuncion Luyao was arrested has agreed
to a plea deal to resolve his four-year-old cases.

Robert Bittle, 39, pleaded no contest to trafficking in OxyContin,
robbery and three counts of robbery with a deadly weapon. He was
sentenced today by Circuit Judge Gary Sweet under the plea agreement
to 20 years in prison, but the sentence was suspended as long as he
successfully completes two years of house arrest and 10 years of probation.

If he fails any conditions, he will automatically head to prison. He
still faces similar charges in Palm Beach County and those must be
resolved before his sentence will begin.

Testifying on his behalf was Assistant State Attorney Lynn Park, who
said he was "extremely cooperative" in testifying during the trial of
Coleman Fred Sule. Sule was found guilty in April of first-degree
murder in the death of a Port St. Lucie woman and guilty of
solicitation to commit murder in a plot to frame and kill a witness.

Bittle was one of two inmates who testified about Sule's jailhouse
plot and he also told authorities about an escape attempt he said
Sule had planned. Park said she did not believe Bittle posed any
danger to the community, especially in light of serious medical
problems he faces.

He suffers from several ailments, including hydrocephalus, also known
as water on the brain, and was legitimately prescribed painkillers in
prison before seeking Luyao's care upon his release. After she was
arrested in the spring of 2002, police linked Bittle to eight
pharmacy robberies in which he allegedly stole roughly 8,000 pills.

Some of them he used and others he sold to a dealer to feed his
OxyContin addiction, police said. Luyao was convicted in March of
racketeering and oxycodone trafficking charges and sentenced to 50
years in prison.