Two separate pill mill investigations, one that began in 2020 and another dating back roughly two decades, both led Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents to pharmacies belonging to Stephen Burklow.
The FDLE announced May 14 that Burklow, 54; his wife, Monique Burklow, 58; and David Barron Winkles, 69, all of Pace, had been arrested on charges related to trafficking prescription drugs. The Burklows own Pace Pharmacy on Woodbine Road and Winkles works there as a pharmacist.
Agents say the Burklows and Winkles accepted and dispensed illicit prescriptions, and that Stephen Burklow billed multiple insurance companies – using various physicians’ National Provider Identifier numbers without their knowledge or consent – for prescriptions that may or may not have been provided to patients.
FDLE’s investigation began in December 2020, after agents learned that a local obstetrician-gynecologist, later identified as Dr. Elaine Sharp, was allegedly writing an excessive amount of controlled substance prescriptions and recommending her patients fill the prescriptions at Pace Pharmacy.
Florida Department of Health Records indicate that both Burklow and Winkles have been linked to overprescribing in the past.
In 2001, Burklow was fined $5,000, placed on a two-year probationary period and ordered to complete a 12-hour continuing education course on the laws and rules governing the practice of pharmacy in Florida as a result of a trio of state statute violations.
According to the Florida Department of Health’s administrative complaint, during a FDLE investigation of over-prescribing by an unnamed local doctor, they determined the prescriptions were filled at Burklow’s former business, Burklow Pharmacy. The complaint listed 13 individual customers who received “early fills and refills” of medications including hydrocodone, oxycontin, Ambien and alprazolam.
The complaint cited Burklow for:
Burklow, whose license currently remains listed as clear and active on the Health Department website, had one prior disciplinary incident in 1996, when he was issued a reprimand and a $500 fine for failure to verbally offer counseling to customers regarding their prescriptions.
More recently, Health Department records also show the agency filed an administrative complaint against Pace Pharmacy on Feb. 13, 2025, alleging the pharmacy “practiced beyond the scope permitted by law by compounding and dispensing compounded sterile products without having been issued a Special Sterile Compounding Permit.”
The complaint notes the pharmacy submitted an application for the permit on or about April 15, 2024, but had compounded and dispensed compounded products from Oct. 15, 2022, until Oct. 15, 2024.
Burklow’s Pharmacy was the subject of a prior FDLE raid in 2016 as part of a multi-agency investigation that Burklow told the News Journal at the time was related to compounding. Burklow said he accepted third-party contracts to compound medications for a pharmacy in Pensacola, and he believed he had been “caught in the crossfire” of state and federal investigators reviewing that company’s practices.
Additionally, Burlow’s pharmacy was raided in 2013 as part of an investigation into allegations of improper billing. No criminal charges were announced against Burklow in either prior investigation.
Pharmacist David Barron Winkles has also faced discipline
David Barron Winkles has also faced discipline in the past for overprescribing.
“During a recent FDLE investigation of over-prescribing by a local physician, it was found that the Respondent was dispensing early fills of legend and controlled drugs to four (4) patients,” a January 2002 administrative complaint from the Health Department said.
The incidents reportedly occurred in 1998 and 1999, when Winkles was working out of an address in the 5900 block of Country Club Road in Milton. In a pair of administrative complaints related to the activity, Winkles was cited for statutory violations that include:
Winkles was fined $2,500, placed on a one-year probationary period and ordered to complete a 12-hour continuing education course on the laws and rules governing the practice of pharmacy in Florida.
White coats, dirty hands
In a Facebook post titled “white coats, dirty hands,” the FDLE wrote about about the May 14 arrests.
“These suspects ran a pill mill pushing 100+ lbs of opioids into Florida communities—all from behind a pharmacy counter and under the facade of healthcare,” the post said. “#YourFDLE and @santarosasheriff exposed these ‘pill-ers’ of health and arrested all three today, shutting down their side hustle for good.”
Stephen Burklow was arrested on conspiracy to traffic oxycodone, conspiracy to traffic hydrocodone, conspiracy to traffic hydromorphone, conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and five counts of identity theft.
Winkles was arrested on conspiracy to traffic schedule II-controlled substances and conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Monique Burklow was arrested on conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to sell controlled substances.
All three are currently being held in Santa Rosa County Jail without bond, according to jail records.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Claims Pace pharmacists dispensed ‘excessive’ levels of pills go back decades
Reporting by Kevin Robinson, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
