Medical professor caught selling rape drug: police

An assistant professor at the University of Miami School of Medicine has been accused of trafficking a date rape drug called “Liquid Ecstasy” and “Coma in a Bottle.”

Dr. Dairon Garcia, 44, was charged with drug charges Friday after authorities said they linked him to a package intercepted at Miami International Airport that contained about 15 pounds of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), which the DEA identified as a date was identified as a date-rape drug, WPLG-TV News reported.

“He should be so embarrassed to be here,” Miami-Dade Judge Mindy Glazer said of Garcia at his arraignment. “He’s a doctor, he’s gone through all his years of training and dedicated his life to helping people, and he got arrested for it.

“This is a matter between you, your attorney and the criminal justice system. Good luck to you, sir.”

Garcia, an assistant professor of clinical radiology at the UM Miller School of Medicine, joined the school's faculty in 2022 after graduating from Duke University School of Medicine, the outlet said.

The allegations against him stem from a package from Paris, France, addressed to a semi-detached home owned by Garcia, which was intercepted by customs officers at the airport on August 29.

Miami police received a tip from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and staked out the address when the package was delivered on Sept. 12 and picked up at the doorstep by a woman.

After police searched the house, the woman's daughter told them that the landlord had called Garcia to say that a package was being dropped off for him and that it would be “please receive it.” [sic] this package,” said a police report reviewed by WPLG.

Meanwhile, another resident of the apartment complex told police that another package for Garcia was delivered to his address from France on Sept. 7 – and on Sept. 25, another package addressed to DG Diagnostics MD LLC was intercepted , which is registered with Garcia.

Police arrested him Friday at his apartment on Biscayne Boulevard Way in downtown Miami.

He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Friday and was held on $15,000 bail, which he posted later that evening. As he left, he declined to comment.

Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB, is colorless and mixes easily with other drinks, so people often don't realize they've consumed it until they're euthanized, the DEA says, giving it numerous alarming nicknames like “aggravated bodily harm” and “serious bodily harm”. “Coma in a bottle.”