Doctor accused of delivering drug GBL to Coral Gables duplex – NBC 6 South Florida

A South Florida doctor is accused of shipping packages containing the illegal drug GBL from abroad and delivering them to a Coral Gables duplex he owned, police said.

Darion Garcia, a physician at the University of Miami Health System and assistant professor of radiology, was arrested Thursday and is charged with trafficking in GBL, or gamma-butyrolactone, according to an affidavit.

The investigation began last month when packages from France showed up at the duplex on Southwest 22nd Terrace.

One man told NBC6 that his neighbor said SWAT officers kicked in their door with guns drawn to search for the package.

The man said he only knew that his landlord had sent a package to his house a few days earlier and picked it up the next day, and he didn't know that his neighbor also had a package.

The arrest form states that his neighbors only knew that Garcia was sending a package to the property.

Garcia appeared in bail court Friday, where a judge had some strong words for him.

“He should be so embarrassed to be here, he's a doctor who has had all these years of training and residency and dedicates his life to helping people and has been arrested for it, but that's a thing between him and his attorney and the criminal justice system,” the judge said.

In a statement, Jackson Hospital clarified that Garcia is not an employee of Jackson but is authorized to work at their hospitals. However, his privileges were suspended.

Garcia posted $15,000 bail.

GBL is a chemical found in cleaning solutions and nail polish. It is used illegally as a substitute and chemical precursor to gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), a date drug.