FILE - Residents drive golf carts through the Lake Sumter Landing Market Square on Aug. 12, 2021, in The Villages, Fla. A 77-year-old man in Florida has been arrested on a federal charge for obtaining misbranded erectile dysfunction drugs with the intent of distributing the medications throughout the enormous retirement community where he lives and elsewhere, authorities said. The man was arrested Sept. 2023, in The Villages, the sprawling retirement community of almost 80,000 fulltime residents in central Florida. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
THE VILLAGES, Fla. (AP) – Federal authorities have arrested a 77-year-old man for allegedly buying more than $1,800 in erectile dysfunction drugs without a prescription and intending to sell them in the massive central Florida retirement community The Villages and elsewhere.
The man was arrested last month in The Villages, where he lives alongside nearly 80,000 fulltime residents and which was featured in the 2020 documentary “Some Kind of Heaven.”
The defendant has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge and agreed to have his case heard before a magistrate judge instead of a jury. If convicted, he faces up to a year in federal prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
In court filings, prosecutors allege that the man received more than $1,800 worth of erectile dysfunction drugs that had been shipped through interstate commerce. The drugs were misbranded because the man obtained them without a valid prescription, according to federal authorities.
The Villages is no stranger to stories about the sex lives of its residents. Rumors about swingers, public sex and high rates of sexually transmitted diseases have swirled around the retirement haven for decades. But a report by the Tampa Bay Times last year said that the three counties containing The Villages tended to have significantly lower rates of sexually transmitted diseases compared to Florida overall.
