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Doctor arrested on drug charges

By STEVE THOMPSON
Published August 28, 2005

NEW PORT RICHEY - A dispute between a husband and wife led to the arrest of a Port Richey physician Friday night on drug charges.

Dr. Richard Carino, 45, has a clinic at 6233 Ridge Road. His wife, Autumn, is listed on a sheriff's report as the clinic's office manager.

Autumn Carino told a deputy she arrived home in New Port Richey on Friday and looked at the computer's Internet history. She said she found several sites with "child pornography stories," the deputy reported.

She confronted her husband, she said, and she kicked the monitor and ripped out the computer's mouse cord. As she did so, her husband grabbed her by the shoulders, she said, and pushed her hard across the room.

Autumn Carino told the deputy that her husband erased the computer's Internet history after she called the Sheriff's Office, the report said. "She alleged for quite some time Richard has been looking up child pornography on the Internet."

Questioned by the deputy, Richard Carino said he was on a Web site that had pornography stories but no pictures, the report said. He said his wife found the Web site and began trying to destroy the computer. He said he pushed his wife to try to get her away from the computer.

After the incident, Autumn Carino led a detective into the couple's master bedroom and showed him 0.35 ounces of marijuana, as well as rolling papers and pipes. The items were on top of and inside a nightstand that she said was her husband's.

She said her husband smoked marijuana nightly in bed and got the drug from a patient as a "tip," a sheriff's report said.

Carino's clinic, Ridge Medical Plaza, sits next to Fat Charlies Sports Cafe among a strip of shops along Ridge Road near U.S. 19. It advertises family medicine, physical therapy, pain management and treatment for automobile crash injuries. He treats anyone from children to seniors, a sign says.

Online state records show Carino earned his medical degree in 1995 from the University of Texas at San Antonio and is licensed in Arkansas, Arizona and Florida. The records list him as having staff privileges at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point.

He remained in the county jail Saturday afternoon on $1,250 bail. He faces charges of domestic battery, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Steve Thompson covers crime in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245. His e-mail address is sthompson@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 28, 2005, 01:14:15]