Police: Noelle Bush Found With Drugs

Governor's Daughter in Treatment

By Manuel Roig-Franzia

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 11, 2002; Page

A02

MIAMI, Sept. 10 -- A two-gram

rock of crack cocaine was found

inside the shoe of Florida Gov. Jeb

Bush's 25-year-old daughter by

workers at the central Florida

rehabilitation center where she is

undergoing court-ordered drug

treatment, Orlando police said

today.

Noelle Bush was not arrested

because witnesses would not give

sworn statements, but the incident is

under investigation, according to Orlando police spokesman Orlando Rolon.

Bush entered a drug treatment program in February, one month after she was

charged with a third-degree felony for allegedly trying to buy the anti-anxiety

drug Xanax with a fake prescription at a drive-through pharmacy in

Tallahassee, the state capital.

She was jailed for three days in July for violating the terms of her

court-ordered treatment program after rehabilitation center workers

discovered that she was carrying prescription pills.

Word of the incident spread Tuesday morning during a chaotic primary

election day in Florida, where Gov. Bush was inundated with complaints

about voting machines not working and alleged voting irregularities.

"This is a private matter as it relates to my daughter and myself and my wife,"

Gov. Bush told reporters. "The road to recovery is a rocky one for a lot of

people that have this kind of problem."

A resident at the Center for Drug-Free Living in Orlando, where Noelle Bush

is being treated, called police late Monday evening and told officers that "the

governor's daughter was caught" with drugs, a police report says. In May,

Noelle Bush had requested a transfer to the center, which court officials in

Orange County say has a 75 percent success rate.

When officers arrived at the center, two staff members told them that they had

searched Noelle Bush after several residents complained about her, the report

says. Staff members also told the officers that residents are warned that they

can be searched at any time.

The white rock that staff members found in Noelle Bush's shoe tested positive

for crack cocaine, the report says.

One of the staff members -- Julia Elias -- began writing a statement about the

incident, but tore it up and threw it away after her supervisor -- Wilma

Accison -- called and told her not to speak with the police, the report says.

The officers picked up the torn statement and logged it as evidence.

Later, the program director, Joyce G. Brulon, arrived and told officers that

the center typically handles such incidents in-house, rather than contacting

police, the report states. Brulon's statement was contradicted by one of her

staff members, Sandra J. Williams, who told officers that the center's policy

requires such matters to be referred to the police, the report says.