PORTLAND – Maine’s top law enforcement officer put bar owners on notice Thursday that fines are in the offing for scofflaws who let patrons puff away in violation of the state’s new smoking ban.

Attorney General Steven Rowe announced the first enforcement actions to be taken against bars accused of flouting the smoking ban: McGillicuddy’s in Brunswick and the Caswell House in Harrison.

In both cases, the businesses face a fine of $100 a day for letting patrons smoke and another $100 a day for failure to post “no smoking” signs.

Tobacco Control Coordinator John Archard, who handles tobacco issues for the Attorney General’s Office, said some bar owners apparently got the wrong impression that enforcement of the smoking ban would be lax.

“The message is that they need to be in compliance. There are a number of good public health reasons why they should be,” he said from Augusta.

Citizen complaints led to the first enforcement action to be taken against the bars.

A state investigation confirmed that McGillicuddy’s and the Caswell House failed to observe the state’s smoking ban, one of the strictest in the nation, the attorney general said.

The fines will top $5,000 because the Caswell House was found to be in violation of the law starting Jan. 16 and McGillicuddy’s was found to be out of compliance since Jan. 16.

Mike Molloy, owner of the Caswell House, had no comment Thursday. No one from McGillicuddy’s was available to comment.

Maine is one of five states that have banned smoking in virtually all workplaces and indoor public spaces including bars, according to the Maine Coalition on Smoking or Health.

The smoking ban in bars went into effect at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, but state officials at the time said they were in no rush to begin issuing citations to bar owners and patrons.

That attitude has changed.

Archard said the Maine Department of Human Services and local law enforcement agencies are currently investigating a number of complaints across the state that could lead to more sanctions against bar owners.

For bar owners, the fine of $100 per offense is not the biggest penalty.

A bigger concern for bar owners is that running afoul of the smoking ban also violates state liquor law. The ultimate penalty would be the suspension or revocation of a bar owner’s liquor license.