OAKLAND (AP) – Acting Department of Human Services Commissioner Peter Walsh is demanding that Rep. Robert Nutting turn over all invoices related to the state’s investigation of Nutting’s pharmacy.

The Oakland Republican had until Thursday afternoon to turn over the invoices, which detail how much True’s Pharmacy billed the state and federal governments for products and services under Medicaid over a five-year period.

But Nutting’s lawyer said that if the state wants to look at the invoices, they must come to the pharmacy because his client isn’t making deliveries.

The DHS first claimed that Nutting owed the state $3.6 million but later reduced that figure to about $867,000.

Nutting has proposed paying back the $563,000 federal portion of what is owed, minus what he has already paid, which would bring the total amount owed to $320,158.

Nutting’s supporters scheduled a rally Thursday afternoon at the State House .

to show their support for the legislator.

Nutting said he’ll announce a settlement with the state or the closure of his Main Street store by Friday.

In a letter this week to Nutting’s lawyer, Walsh said True’s must provide proof of the pharmacy’s purchase of specific items for which it was reimbursed under Maine Care, the state’s version of Medicaid.

The letter also was sent to Christopher Mann, an assistant attorney general representing DHS on the civil end of the case against True’s. A criminal investigation by the attorney general’s office also is under way, said attorney Jay McCloskey, who represents Nutting.

Nutting has told investigators that the pharmacy has 85 percent of its acquisition cost invoices for incontinence supplies, invoices that will show the pharmacy did not overcharge the program. The DHS wants to see those invoices for review and comment, according to Walsh’s letter.

“These documents must be delivered to the department no later than Aug. 21 at 1 p.m.,” Walsh wrote. The letter does not indicate what might happen if the deadline is missed.

Nutting contends that the state did not do its math correctly in calculating the money owed, and that as many as 75 percent of pharmacies in Maine are interpreting the billing rules the same way True’s did.

AP-ES-08-21-03 0932EDT