NY- A sexy TV aerobics guru and her wealthy boyfriend have been busted for pushing more than pushups on the Internet, authorities charged yesterday.
Blond beauty Sonia Barrantes Molina, 29, and Miami businessman Anthony Quiñones, 46, were portrayed by federal prosecutors as Internet prescription drug dealers.
The couple and seven Puerto Rican doctors were rounded up by Drug Enforcement Administration agents in a ring-crushing sting called Operation Click 4 Drugs.
Molina pleaded not guilty yesterday in Brooklyn Federal Court to charges of money laundering and distributing prescription drugs on the Internet.
Prosecutors claim the ring made millions of dollars between January 2004 and December 2006, and laundered the ill-gotten gains by buying real estate and fancy cars.
The feds are seeking to seize $4.2million in assets belonging to Quiñones, including a Florida condo, a 2007 Mercedes and a Ferrari Spyder.
Customers would complete a questionnaire on the ring’s Web site, Doctorsonline.com, and one of the Puerto Rican doctors would write the prescription without ever consulting with the patient, officials said.
The customers would then pick up their prescriptions, including powerful painkillers like hydrocodone, at pharmacies, including some in the New York area, officials said.
Federal officials smashed the ring after learning Molina was allegedly scouting out property in Costa Rica to move their base of operations.
Molina was being held without bail last night. She faces five years in prison if convicted. Quiñones remained jailed in Florida.
Defense attorney Humberto Dominguez of Florida said Molina is upset, shocked and eager to fight the charges.
“She never thought she’d get arrested because she’s only tangentially involved, if anything,” Dominguez said.
Molina started out as an 18-year-old TV news reporter in Costa Rica before transforming herself into a workout wonder woman.
Besides her TV career, Molina owns three beauty salons and a tattoo and body-piercing parlor in Costa Rica.
In a 2003 interview, she boasted that she “admires with pride every centimeter of her toned body.”