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Jury Finds Former Physician's Assistant Guilty of Drug, Violation of Privacy, Theft and Prostitution Charges
June 18, 2009
Jury Finds Former Physician?s Assistant Guilty of Drug, Violation of Privacy, Theft, and Prostitution Charges
June 18, 2009 Leanne Robbin, Assistant Attorney General 207-626-8581
Attorney General Janet T. Mills announced today that a Lincoln County jury found former Physician?s Assistant Richard ?Dik? Brackett, age 66, of Gardiner, Maine guilty of Unlawful Trafficking in Scheduled Drugs (Class B), Four Counts of Violation of Privacy (Class D), Engaging a Prostitute (Class D), and Theft by Deception (Class C). The jury was deadlocked on one count of Unlawful Trafficking in Scheduled Drugs (Class B) and one count of Unlawful Furnishing Scheduled Drugs (Class C). The jury heard five days of testimony and issued their decision after three and a half days of deliberations.
Brackett worked as a Physician?s Assistant at his Urgent Care clinic in Boothbay Harbor from 1997 through 2006. In June of 2006, the Healthcare Crimes Unit of the Attorney General?s Office opened an investigation after one of Brackett?s female patients reported that Brackett was trying to obtain sexual favors in exchange for narcotics prescriptions. In a recorded phone call, Brackett offered a second female patient 10 Vicodin pills in exchange for sex. After two controlled purchases of drugs and prescriptions monitored by law enforcement, Healthcare Crimes detectives, assisted by officers of the Boothbay Harbor Police Department and the Lincoln County Sheriff?s Department, executed a search warrant at Brackett?s clinic in July of 2006. During the search, the officers discovered that Brackett had installed cameras hidden in clock radios in a bathroom and three apartments rented to tenants in the upstairs of the clinic. Images of the tenants? beds and the toilet in the bathroom were transmitted to a computer monitor in Brackett?s exam room. The investigation also revealed that Brackett was defrauding MaineCare by charging the State for drug deals as if they were legitimate office visits.
Brackett is free on bail pending his sentencing, which will be scheduled later in the summer.
?Prescription drug diversion has become an epidemic in Maine,? said Attorney General Mills. ?The Office of the Attorney General will aggressively investigate and prosecute health care providers who furnish narcotics to known addicts. I look forward continued work with local law enforcement agencies to prevent other irresponsible health care providers from illegally prescribing prescription drugs.?
Attorney General Mills would like to thank Detective Jeffrey Wrigley of the Office of Attorney General?s Healthcare Crimes Unit for his work investigating this case, and Assistant Attorneys General Lisa R. Bogue, Michael Miller and Leanne Robbin for their work prosecuting this case.
