A South Florida doctor is accused of shipping packages of the illegal drug GBL from out of the country and having them delivered to a duplex he owns in Coral Gables, police said.
Darion Garcia, a doctor at the University of Miami Health System and assistant professor of radiology, was arrested Thursday and faces charges of trafficking GBL, or gamma-butyrolactone, according to an arrest affidavit.
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The investigation started last month when packages from France showed up at the duplex on Southwest 22nd Terrace.
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A man at one home didn't want to go on camera but told NBC6 he got a call from his neighbor last month that police and SWAT officers had shown up with their guns drawn and kicked open his neighbor's door once they received the package.
He says days earlier, Garcia shipped a package to his home. The arrest report says he told detectives he opened it and observed that it contained plastic bags with liquid inside the package.
The tenant told NBC6 he wasn’t sure what the substance was. When he learned Friday of the arrest, he said he was shocked and that Garcia put him in harm’s way.
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Garcia appeared in bond court Friday, where a judge had some strong words for him.
"He should be so embarrassed being here, he's a medical doctor going through all those years of education and help committing his life to helping people and got arrested for this, but that's between him and his lawyer and the criminal justice system," the judge said.
In a statement, Jackson Hospital clarified Garcia is not a Jackson employee, but he was credentialed to work in their hospitals. However, his privileges have been suspended.
Garcia posted a bond of $15,000.
GBL is a chemical found in cleaning solutions and nail polish. It is illicitly used as a substitute and chemical precursor to gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), a date rape drug.
