Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe and Maine Agriculture Commissioner Seth Bradstreet III issued the following consumer warning:

Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe announced today that Albert Bouchard of Limestone, a former caseworker for DHHS Bureau of Elder and Adult Services, has been sentenced to jail for diverting funds from four of his elderly and incapacitated clients for his personal use. Bouchard, age 47, was charged with having misappropriated over $9,000 from clients to purchase fine jewelry, electronics, gift certificates and furniture for the benefit of himself, his family and his girlfriend over a 15 month period in 2001 through 2003.

The United States District Court of Northern California, Judge Vaughan Walker, denied the federal government's motion for summary judgment in United States vs. Adams and similar cases involving Missouri, New Jersey, Connecticut and Vermont. The cases were consolidated for efficiency's sake. At issue in the case is whether the Public Utilities Commission can compel Verizon to sign an affidavit verifying the accuracy of statements they made denying that they shared customer information with the National Security Agency.

Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe today announced a settlement with AOL, one of the nation's largest Internet service providers, requiring the company to make significant changes in honoring consumer cancellation requests and further ordering refunds for consumers.

Yesterday, Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe filed an investigative demand with Fox Interactive Media, the parent company of the popular online social networking site Myspace.com. In December 2006 Myspace hired Sentinel Tech Holdings to develop a tool to check the site for registered sex offenders. Sentinel Tech's SAFE tool uncovered thousands of registered sex offenders with profiles on the site.

Today, the United States Supreme Court announced that it has agreed to review the case Rowe v. New Hampshire Motor Transport, 06-457 filed against the State of Maine by motor transport associations in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. The associations challenged the 2003 Maine law that requires that internet tobacco retailers utilize carriers who take specific actions to ensure that packages containing tobacco products are not delivered to minors.Attorney General Steve Rowe stated "We are pleased that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear this important case.

Attorney General Steve Rowe announced today that Maine and 25 other states, as well as the District of Columbia, have reached a settlement with Purdue Pharma regarding the narcotic pain medication OxyContin.

Attorney General Steve Rowe today announced the settlement of a civil enforcement action against the makers of the popular oral contraceptive product Ovcon. The lawsuit, joined by thirty-three other states and the District of Columbia, charged Warner Chilcott and Barr Pharmaceuticals with antitrust violations that have prevented generic versions of Ovcon from reaching the marketplace. As part of the settlement, Warner Chilcott will pay $5.5 million to Maine and the other litigating states.

Attorney General Steve Rowe announced today that as a condition of its acquisition of numerous Brooks and Eckerd retail pharmacy outlets, Rite Aid will be required to divest or spin off the Brooks Pharmacy located at 397 Water Street in Gardiner. The same agreement also applies to 22 other stores located in states from New Hampshire to Virginia. Rite Aid is acquiring the stores from a Canadian company, The Jean Coutu Group.

Attorney General Steven Rowe today announced that his office will launch a television program called "Consumer Matters" in an effort to better educate the people of Maine on how they can protect themselves in the marketplace. "The more information available to consumers, the better able they are to avoid getting hurt by unscrupulous practices, fraud and scams. "Consumer Matters" will act as another resource to help consumers protect themselves" Rowe stated.