One of the region’s most prominent medical leaders was arrested last week on multiple charges of obtaining controlled substances using fraudulent prescriptions.  Sarasota Police arrested Dr. Michael Dattoli, founder of the Dattoli Cancer Center, and said he on three occasions had prescriptions for Valium filled in his wife’s name in 2019 and 2020.

In September this year, an employee of the Dattoli center alerted law enforcement that when looking through the Florida prescription drug controlled substance database and saw several fraudulent prescriptions written the prior year, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The database was created by the Florida Legislature in 2009 as a way to curb pill mills, doctor shopping and other activities contributing to an ongoing opioid crisis. While the law was passed explicitly to deal with opioids, the database tracks all Schedule II to Schedule 5 narcotics that have been classified for their potential for abuse.

The employee, who no longer works at the center, said three prescriptions were written to Dattoli’s wife.

"The victim was shown a copy of the phoned-in prescriptions during his interview with Sarasota Police and said he never authorized the prescription and said Dattoli’s wife was never a patient of his," said an email from Sarasota Police spokeswoman Genevieve Judge.

Law enforcement obtained copies multiple prescriptions from several Sarasota area pharmacies phoned in throughout 2020 from the Dattoli center. The prescriptions were all filled the same day they were written and picked up by Dattoli.

Investigators in October interviewed Dattoli’s wife, who confirmed she had never been a patient at the center and had never received the Valium prescriptions or the drugs in question.

Further investigation showed Dattoli had purchased and picked up the prescriptions using an account with his own Social Security Number and the cancer center’s address. Insurance records with Florida Blue confirmed he had claimed the prescriptions were for his wife.

He now faces three charges of obtaining the controlled substance Diazepam through fraud, three counts of criminal use of a personal ID, and three counts of insurance fraud. The 64-year-old Anna Maria physician was arrested by the Sarasota Police Department, jail records show. He has since been released on bond.

An email to the Dattoli center seeking comment was not returned.