TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — Gov. Jeb Bush's 24-year-old daughter was arrested at a pharmacy drive-through window Tuesday on charges of trying to buy the anti-anxiety drug Xanax with a fraudulent prescription.
Authorities said Noelle Bush apparently posed as a doctor and called in the phony prescription after suffering a panic attack Monday evening.
Bush, who was supposed to start a new job Tuesday at a software company, was jailed and released pending a Jan. 31 arraignment. She did not have to post bond.
She could get up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine if convicted. Bush's attorney, former Florida Deputy Atty. Gen. Pete Antonacci, could not be reached.
Jeb Bush and his wife, Columba, issued a statement saying they were "deeply saddened" by the incident involving their only daughter.
"She's doing fine," the governor said. "It's really hard for our family, but a lot of families go through this."
According to police, a woman called a Walgreens pharmacy late Monday to see whether a prescription had been called in for Noelle Bush. Pharmacist Carlos Zimmerman checked the voice mail and heard a woman claiming to be Dr. Noel Scidmore requesting a prescription for Xanax, a prescription drug similar to Valium that is normally used to treat anxiety disorders.
Zimmerman told police the prescription sounded suspicious because there was no quantity indicated.
Within 20 minutes, the woman called back to check on the prescription and Zimmerman said he needed a specific quantity. He received a voice mail message about 10 minutes later specifying the quantity.
He then called the doctor's answering service. Another doctor returned the call and said Scidmore "is moving and isn't really practicing now." The doctor said the phoned-in prescription should be treated as fraudulent.
When the woman called back to check on the prescription again, the pharmacist told her it would be ready shortly. Noelle Bush drove up in her white Volkswagen about 1 a.m. and was waiting there when police arrived.
Bush, who lives alone in Tallahassee, studied art and graduated from a local community college in 2000. She attended Florida State University during the 2000-01 academic year but is not enrolled now.
Since 1995, she has received seven speeding tickets, been cited for five other traffic violations and been involved in three automobile crashes, Florida motor vehicle records show.
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