05 October 2023

Man, 77, aimed to sell ill-gotten erectile drugs in Florida retirement community

05 October 2023

A 77-year-old man has been arrested in Florida for allegedly buying more than 1,800 dollars (£1,500) of erectile dysfunction drugs without a prescription and intending to sell them in a huge retirement community and elsewhere.

The man was arrested last month in The Villages, north west of Orlando, where he lives alongside nearly 80,000 full-time residents. The community was featured in a 2020 documentary, Some Kind Of Heaven.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanour charge and agreed to have his case heard before a magistrate judge instead of a jury.

If convicted, he faces up to a year in federal prison and a fine of up to 10,000 dollars (£8.200).

In court filings, prosecutors allege that the man received more than 1,800 of erectile dysfunction drugs shipped through interstate commerce.

The drugs were misbranded because the man obtained them without a valid prescription, according to federal authorities.

The Villages is no stranger to stories about the sex lives of its residents. Rumours about swingers, public sex and high rates of sexually transmitted diseases have swirled around the retirement haven for decades.

But a report by the Tampa Bay Times last year said that the three counties containing The Villages tended to have significantly lower rates of sexually transmitted disease than Florida overall.

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