RANGELEY – A Rangeley druggist who had his pharmacist’s license temporarily suspended in 2005 after violations were found at Riddle’s Pharmacy, received disciplinary sanctions from the state pharmacy board in January after admitting to dispensing a prescription with the wrong drug.

Pharmacist Joey McLafferty, 72, of Rangeley entered into a consent agreement with the state Board of Pharmacy in January and received a warning, paid a $400 fine and was placed on probation for one year, said Anne Head, acting commissioner of the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation.

There was no patient harm, she said.

According to the signed consent agreement, a complaint was filed with the Board of Pharmacy on Sept. 22, pertaining to a misfilled prescription.

McLafferty admitted to erroneously filling a prescription for Humalog by dispensing Novolog, both fast-acting insulins for diabetics.

It was the same insulin but a different brand, McLafferty said Friday.

The consent agreement also required McLafferty to get a vision test and eye exam and adhere to any recommended treatment.

McLafferty also agreed to avoid dispensing any misfilled prescriptions.

The longtime pharmacist had his license temporarily suspended in June 2005, after teenage employees were charged by police with stealing narcotic prescription drugs from the store.

The Board of Pharmacy ruled in August 2005 that McLafferty had violated 10 of the 12 federal and state pharmacy rules for which he was initially cited. The board fined McLafferty $10,700 with all but $4,000 excused and held him responsible for $3,500 for costs of the two-day hearing. It also required him to abstain from consuming alcohol, undergo random alcohol testing and continue seeing a substance abuse counselor until Feb. 6, 2006. They also agreed to issue a letter of reprimand for failing to establish and maintain effective controls to prevent errors or misfills and to issue a letter of guidance on alcohol use during business hours. A substance abuse counselor testified at the hearing that McLafferty didn’t abuse alcohol and wasn’t dependent on it.

McLafferty’s pharmacist’s license was reinstated with no restrictions in January 2006 after he passed his license test on the third try in December 2005. In a separate matter, McLafferty is awaiting trial in May on a charge of operating under the influence after Rangeley police arrested him Dec. 29.

Police stopped McLafferty after officer Jared Austin observed him driving erratically on Main Street and nearly striking a parked car, Rangeley Police Chief Phil Weymouth said.

He failed his field sobriety test, and his blood alcohol level tested at .14 percent, Weymouth said. The legal limit is .08.

McLafferty declined comment Friday on the pending case.