GOV. JEB BUSH'S DAUGHTER ARRESTED

Charge is felony prescription fraud Noelle Bush, 24-year-old daughter of
Gov. Jeb Bush, was arrested and charged with a felony count of prescription
drug fraud early Tuesday.

Noelle, the only daughter of Jeb and Columba Bush, allegedly impersonated a
local doctor and phoned in a prescription for the anti-anxiety drug Xanax
at a Tallahassee Walgreens pharmacy. The pharmacist became suspicious and
called Tallahassee police.

Jeb Bush said in a statement that he and his wife are "deeply saddened"
over the incident. Since taking office, Bush has been a strong proponent of
reducing drug abuse, as well as of providing treatment options for addicts.

His daughter's arrest came just after 1 a.m. as she sat in the
drive-through lane of the North Monroe Street drug store, where she'd gone
to pick up the prescription. She was handcuffed, searched, taken into
custody and later released on her own recognizance.

Pharmacist Carlos Zimmerman - who frequently shows up in Tallahassee police
records reporting alleged prescription fraud - told officers he was alerted
by several suspicious phone calls and voice mail messages. In the first, a
woman called about 11 p.m. Monday asking whether a prescription had been
filled for Noelle Bush, he said.

When Zimmerman checked the store's voice mail, he heard a woman's voice
claiming to be Tallahassee Dr. "Noelle" Scidmore, ordering a Xanax
prescription for Bush. Dr. Noel Scidmore, a man, used to practice medicine
in Tallahassee. A woman who answered the phone at his Tallahassee business
number Tuesday said he'd moved his practice to Tennessee. A phone message
left at his Tallahassee home number was not returned.

Zimmerman, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, told police the
call sounded "suspicious," especially because there was no number of pills
specified when the prescription was called in.

When the woman called him a second time to ask whether the prescription was
ready, Zimmerman said he told her about the quantity problem. A few minutes
later, the "doctor" left another message on voice mail, giving the number
of pills to be prescribed.

A suspicious Zimmerman called the answering service for Scidmore and
received a call back from another doctor, telling him that Scidmore was no
longer in practice here. The woman called a third time, and Zimmerman told
her to come pick up her prescription.

When Bush pulled into the drive-through, Zimmerman asked for her ID and
called police.

Under questioning, Bush denied making the calls. But, police reported, the
phone number the "doctor" had left on Zimmerman's voice mail was actually
one of the numbers to Bush's apartment on Park Avenue.

Tuesday's arrest wasn't her first brush with the law. She has a record of
several car crashes and traffic tickets, including one parking lot fender
bender in which she was charged with leaving the scene without calling
police. Also, The Associated Press reported Tuesday that a woman with her
full name and date of birth was charged with shoplifting in Flagstaff,
Ariz., in 1995.

Now, if convicted of the felony prescription fraud charge, Bush could face
up to five years in prison. That's unlikely, however. Prescription drug
abusers are seldom sent to jail in Leon County, and most of those arrested
each year, usually middle-age women addicted to painkillers, are given drug
treatment and probation.

Meanwhile, as the news spread like wildfire through the Capitol, an
unusually large number of TV cameras converged on Bush after an afternoon
news conference. "This is a private matter. This is difficult for our
family," the governor said. "A lot of families go through this, and I'd
just ask you to treat this in as private a manner as possible."

Coincidentally, while Bush was speaking to the press, a Senate committee
was taking up the issue of prescription drug abuse just yards away. SBs
636, 638 and 640 would criminalize the prescribing of certain abused drugs
and educate pharmacists and doctors about the dangers of prescription drug
abuse, among other measures.

Bill sponsor Sen. Locke Burt, R-Ormond Beach, who is running for attorney
general, said 30 percent of the drug abuse problem in Florida involves
prescription drugs, and 90 percent of that number involves an informed
participation by a professional such as a doctor or pharmacist that should
be illegal, he said. Currently the professionals must be prosecuted under
RICO, or racketeering laws.

"It's very unfortunate, and my heart goes out to the governor and his wife
and his daughter," Burt said. "It does make the point that prescription
drug abuse is a serious problem that can affect any family in Florida."

Burt's bills unanimously passed the Senate Health, Aging and Long-Term Care
Committee and must clear three more committees before going to the Senate
floor.

Florida Democratic Party Chairman Bob Poe said he hopes the governor's
family's problems don't become grist for the political mill.

"It's a personal and private matter, and it shouldn't come up in a
campaign," Burt said. "I hope that the campaign doesn't go to that level.
It should remain a private family matter."

An art student, Noelle Bush attended Miami-Dade Community College during
the fall of 1998. She graduated from Tallahassee Community College in 2000
and attended Florida State University during the 2000-2001 academic year.
She is not currently enrolled, the university registrar's office said.

Noelle Bush told police that she was starting a new job Tuesday. Tom Lynch,
president of Infinity Software, a Tallahassee-based software company, said
Bush had been hired as an administrative assistant. He said he had not
decided whether she will remain with the company.

"I don't know what the facts are yet. I want to hear from her," Lynch said.

Her mother has worked on behalf of Informed Families of Florida, a
nonprofit group involved in educating families about drug abuse.

Jeb and Columba Bush had said previously that one of their three children
struggled with a drug problem following Bush's unsuccessful first run for
governor in 1994. They did not say whether it was Noelle or one of her
brothers.

Tallahassee Democrat reporters Jeff Burlew, Juana Jordan and David Twiddy
and The Associated Press contributed to this report.