ROCKPORT, Maine — A former receptionist for a Rockport dentist pleaded guilty Wednesday to a drug charge and will see a reduced sentence if she assists in any state investigation of the doctor.
The dentist himself reached a consent decree last fall with the Maine Board of Dental Examiners concerning his prescribing of painkillers and is operating on a probationary license.
Joanne Garrigan, 45, of Tenants Harbor pleaded guilty Wednesday in Knox County Superior Court to a felony charge of unlawful possession of the painkiller hydrocodone.
But the deferred disposition reached with the Maine attorney general’s Office allows the charge to be dropped to a misdemeanor with no jail time to be served if she meets the conditions agreed to by her lawyer and the prosecution.
During the next year, Garrigan is required to be available to answer any questions by the attorney general’s office regarding Dr. Daniel Schecter, who has an office on Route 1 in Rockport. She also must “agree to testify truthfully in any proceedings involving” Schecter.
Garrigan’s sentence, if she meets those terms, will be 364 days in jail all suspended, one year of probation and a $400 fine. Garrigan also must perform 100 hours of community service.
If she violates those conditions, the felony count would remain in place and her sentence could vary dramatically.
Defense attorney Jeremy Pratt pointed out that Garrigan has already performed 150 hours of volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and will do the additional 100 hours required under the agreement with the state.
An affidavit filed in April 2012 in Knox County Superior Court stated that Maine Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent Allen Weaver, Detective John Dyer with the Maine attorney general’s Healthcare Crimes Unit, and Special Agent Catherine Richard with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services conducted an interview with Schecter and his attorney Eric “Rick” Morse.
In that April 2012 interview, Schecter told investigators that he learned a week earlier that his receptionist, Garrigan, had been obtaining hydrocodone prescriptions without his consent. The dentist said she had obtained prescriptions for three different family members even though they had never been his patients.
Garrigan was charged shortly after the affidavit was filed by police.
No criminal charges have been filed against Schecter.
That same month, however, the Maine Board of Dental Examiners opened a case into the prescription practices of Schecter. In October, he reached a consent agreement with the board to resolve the allegations. The specific allegations in the complaint against the doctor could not be immediately turned over to the BDN, according to a spokeswoman for the board of dental examiners. The board needed time to redact information from the complaints before they could be released, she said. While the complaint was not released Thursday, the consent agreement was made available.
The agreement calls for Schecter’s dental license to be on probation for five years and it also placed indefinite restrictions on his license.
Those restrictions include that he is not allowed to prescribe any Schedule II controlled substances. Those drugs include opium, morphine, codeine, hydromorphone (Dilaudid), methadone, pantopon and meperidine. He also must immediately cease prescribing any controlled medications including opiates for chronic dental pain, cannot prescribe any opiates before dental procedures. He also is limited to prescribing opiates for no more than 10 days for any patient with acute dental pain following an invasive procedure and the dosage cannot be any greater than 10 milligrams per tablet. Schecter also is prohibited from refilling opiate prescriptions.
The dentist also was ordered to reimburse the board of dental examiners $4,084 for the costs of its investigation.
Efforts to reach Schecter’s attorney on Thursday and Friday were unsuccessful. Calls made to Schecter’s home and office on Friday morning were not immediately returned.