Sarasota firefighter arrested on drug charges

Sarasota County Firefighter/Paramedic Claiborne Moulton has been placed on administrative leave and faces 28 charges related to a prescription-drug arrest, according to an email from Fire Chief Mike Tobias to County Administrator Randall Reid.

The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office arrested an off-duty Moulton, 44, and his wife, Shannon Moulton, for a total of 80 charges including obtaining a controlled substance by fraud Wednesday, Aug. 21. Over a 15-month period, Shannon Moulton, 40, faxed fake prescriptions to pharmacies to obtain nearly 1,800 hydrocodone pills, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

Moulton used the names of co-workers from a dermatology office at which she worked to forge the prescriptions.

"We have conducted an internal audit of our EMS medications and find no evidence of discrepancies in the amount or the use of those medications," Tobias said in the email.