Man denies giving away methadone from soon-to-close Lake Co. clininc

A Lake Villa Township man denied Wednesday he gave a friend a bottle of methadone dispensed by a besieged Waukegan clinic.

Jeffrey Ranalli, 23, is charged with unlawful delivery of a controlled substance for passing along methadone he was prescribed at The Green Dragonfly clinic.

The clinic and its medical director, Lake County Coroner Dr. Richard Keller, have been under investigation in the wake of the death late last year of another of its patients.

Keller, who took the job at the clinic shortly before it opened last September, has said he has resigned that position effective Monday and will not seek re-election as coroner.

Owners of the clinic have said they will cease operations of the facility at 1738 Washington St. the following day, Sept. 8.

Assistant State's Attorney Steven Derue said the case against Ranalli began last month when Round Lake Beach police served a search warrant at a house in that community.

A resident of the house, who is not being identified because he has yet to be charged with any crime, was found to be in possession of three bottles of methadone, Derue said.

Ranalli's name was on each bottle, Derue said, and the man told police he had been given the drug used to treat heroin addiction by Ranalli.

Police interviewed Ranalli, who said he told them he had received three bottles of the drug at The Green Dragonfly every Sunday for the past three to four months. Ranalli told police he routinely took two of the three doses himself, Derue said, and gave the third to friends "whenever they were sick."

As medical director of the clinic, Keller was the only person on staff authorized to prescribe methadone. He declined to comment on the Ranalli case Wednesday.

Investigators from local, state and federal agencies have been reviewing clinic records and interviewing people about clinic practices since early this year.

The probe was spurred by the Dec. 3 death of Steven Vaughn of Lindenhurst, who overdosed on a combination of methadone and Xanax, an anti-antidepressant.

There are concerns that clinic personnel did not do the mandated drug screening tests of Vaughn before giving him the methadone, State's Attorney Michael Waller said.

Waller said investigators from his office are working with those from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and state Department of Human Services, both of which regulate methadone clinics, in the probe.

He said the investigation is ongoing and he could not predict when it would be completed.

Ranalli, who Derue said faces a prison sentence of up to seven years if convicted, is held on $75,000 bond.

Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti scheduled a trial of the case for Sept. 28, and ordered him to appear in court Sept. 9.