GARDINER – State regulators heard nine hours of testimony Tuesday during a public hearing to determine if disciplinary action is required on the pharmacy license of Rangeley pharmacist Joey McLafferty.
The Maine Board of Pharmacy suspended McLafferty’s license June 14. He is accused of violating 12 state and federal pharmacy rules.
Just after 9 p.m. Tuesday, the board decided to continue the hearing until 9 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, at the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation office in Gardiner.
Still to be heard is testimony by McLafferty and closing arguments by Assistant Attorney General Andrew Black and McLafferty’s attorneys, Severin Beliveau and Charlie Dingman of Preti Flaherty in Augusta.
McLafferty is the sole pharmacist and owner of Riddle’s Pharmacy in Rangeley. The next-closest pharmacy to the town is about 45 miles away in Farmington.
A state pharmacy investigator began the investigation into the pharmacy in May after Rangeley Police Chief Philip Weymouth asked him to conduct an audit of prescription medication in the store after hearing rumors that three teenage girls had taken drugs from the store.
The three girls, one 15 and two 16, had worked at the pharmacy on Saturdays, and have since been charged with aggravated trafficking in drugs, aggravated unlawful furnishing of drugs and stealing drugs.
Pharmacy inspector Gregory Cameron conducted a 16-day audit and discovered that 1,300 prescription medication pills were missing.
Billie Linnell, a pharmacy technician at Riddle’s, stated under oath Tuesday that she was alerted to the possibility of narcotics being taken from the store by the teenagers in spring 2004 and she didn’t call police. She said that she spoke to the teenage girls after finding that about 10 pills were missing, after a parent reported suspicions of drugs being stolen from the store.
On Tuesday, Black read off amounts of missing drugs from a two-year audit from May 1, 2003 to May 1, 2005, that totaled more than 6,000 missing pills. The drugs were tranquilizers, amphetamines and painkillers, including 593 Adderall tablets, 160 methadone pills, 2,617 hydrocodone pills and 1,755 alprazolam pills and 451 endocet pills.
Cameron also stated in testimony Tuesday that during his investigation he followed McLafferty to a restaurant and saw him drink two beers before going back to work to fill prescriptions. He also said that the drugs were not secured while McLafferty was not in the pharmacy, including days when the teenage girls worked.
Several witnesses that McLafferty’s defense team called – including former state Sen. John Benoit, a former District Court judge of Sandy River Plantation, Rangeley Town Manager Perry Ellsworth, a dentist and a doctor – said they had never had any prescriptions filled incorrectly or heard any complaints about McLafferty.
Witnesses also said it would be devastating to residents of Rangeley and surrounding towns if the pharmacy was closed.
Substance abuse counselor Don Acorn stated during phone testimony that from his two sessions with McLafferty he determined that McLafferty doesn’t have an alcohol problem and isn’t alcohol-dependent.
In Black’s opening statement, he said McLafferty’s actions were a tragedy that could have been prevented.
Severin said that they would demonstrate that McLafferty’s consumption of alcohol didn’t impair his judgment and ability to perform his duties. He also noted that McLafferty has abstained from alcohol and will continue to abstain from alcohol.
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