RANGELEY – There is no hearing set for a Rangeley pharmacist who had his professional license suspended last month by a state licensing board.

The Board of Pharmacy suspended Rangeley druggist Joey McLafferty’s license for the second time Oct. 23. The board was to hold a hearing within 30 days on complaints it received unless a consent agreement was reached, a license was surrendered or other action occurred.

McLafferty, 73, the owner of Riddle’s Pharmacy, which has been closed since the suspension, said Wednesday he couldn’t talk about the case.

He appeared before the pharmacy board with his attorneys last month on complaints received, and additional information was brought forward during the hearing concerning McLafferty being accused of having a blood alcohol level of .07 while driving in October, a violation of his conditional driver’s license issued after he pleaded guilty to drunken driving earlier this year on a 2006 case.

“A hearing has not been scheduled” on the board’s Oct. 23 suspension, said Anne Head, director of Maine Office of Licensing and Registration, on Wednesday. “The complaints that are the focal point of the board’s suspension action could be resolved if a consent agreement was reached and signed by a representative of the Attorney General’s Office, the licensee – McLafferty, and chairman of the pharmacy board. If a consent agreement is finalized, the complaints become public.”

There is no consent agreement posted on the board’s Web site at Maine.gov, and Head said she couldn’t say if there was or wasn’t one in the works.

The board’s order to suspend McLafferty’s license in October was recently posted on the Web site.

It states, “On the basis of an investigation into the complaints dated June 14, and Aug. 23, 2007, the board concludes that your continued ability to practice as a pharmacist constitutes an immediate jeopardy to the health and safety of the public, and failure to immediately suspend your license will not adequately respond to the risk. Specifically, the board preliminary finds, for purposes of this order, that you have engaged in conduct that evidences a lack of ability or fitness to discharge the duty owed by a licensee to a patient or the general public, and that you are unable to practice pharmacy with reasonable skill and safety as a result of illness or a mental or physical condition.”

McLafferty was ordered to return his license and wallet card to the board’s clerk.

McLafferty’s license to practice as a pharmacist was also suspended in 2005 before and after the board ruled he violated 10 state and federal pharmacy rules. The violations came to light after teenage employees were accused of stealing prescription drugs and a state pharmacy inspector conducted an investigation. McLafferty was fined $10,700 with all but $4,000 excused and was held responsible for $3,500 for costs of the two-day hearing. He was also required to abstain from consuming alcohol, undergo random alcohol testing and continue seeing a substance abuse counselor until Feb. 6, 2006.

In January of this year, the state pharmacy board also issued disciplinary sanctions against McLafferty when the board received a complaint and he admitted to dispensing a prescription with the wrong insulin drug.

McLafferty entered into a consent agreement in that case and received a warning, paid a $400 fine and was placed on probation for one year.