GARDINER (AP) – The Maine Pharmacy Board found the Penobscot Nation’s defunct mail-order pharmacy and two of its pharmacists guilty Tuesday of violations linked to the board’s investigation into sales of drugs without verified prescriptions.

PIN Rx, the pharmacy accused of illegally filling more than 180,000 Internet prescriptions for at least $3 million worth of drugs, was found guilty of 16 of 18 counts and was ordered to pay $500,000 in fines and half the costs of the board’s three-day hearing.

Reginald Gracie Jr., head pharmacist and former chief executive officer of PIN Rx, also was found guilty of 16 of 18 counts. The board permanently revoked Gracie’s license, issued a letter of reprimand and ordered him to pay more than $300,000 in fines and cover the other half of the hearing costs.

A second PIN Rx pharmacist, Susan Tringale, was found guilty of 12 of 18 counts. She received a one-month suspension and was fined $5,000.

The lawyer for Gracie, who had invoked his client’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at the hearing, said they planned an appeal.

When PIN Rx opened in October 2005, state officials said the no-frills pharmacy would fill MaineCare prescriptions at less cost than a traditional pharmacy, saving the program for low-income Mainers an estimated $5 million each year.

But testimony underscored the financial problems that plagued PIN Rx from the beginning. The company was losing $100,000 a month, officials said.

Despite Gracie’s reticence, Tringale answered questions Monday about the decision to work with Internet prescription-ordering centers to bring in more revenue.

She said she took her concerns about the legality of the operation to Gracie. “I was always told there are no rules saying we cannot do it,” Tringale said, adding that Gracie was the one who told her the business was legitimate.

“I trusted too many people,” she said.

Gracie was accused of receiving more than $100,000 in kickbacks from some of the Internet order centers over a six-month period.

Appearing before the board, he repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment under questioning by Assistant Attorney General Andrew Black.

Gracie’s lawyer, Thomas Marjerison, said the state’s insistence on continuing to ask questions was “cheap theatrics” for reporters attending the hearing. Marjerison accused Black of “parading to the cameras.”

Also Monday, lawyers and the board discussed remarks made last week by Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis, who demanded an apology after accusing the board and attorney general of “dragging this tribe unnecessarily through the mud.”

Francis and other Penobscot officials have declined to testify.

Attorneys for the two pharmacists contend that if Francis can hold a news conference to defend the tribe, he should be ordered to testify. Marjerison called Francis’ actions “hypocritical.”

A federal investigation into PIN Rx is also under way.

AP-ES-05-15-07 1918EDT

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