CEO refuses to answer PIN Rx questions

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GARDINER – One of the pharmacists accused of illegally filling more than 180,000 Internet prescriptions for at least $3 million worth of drugs at the former Indian Island mail-order pharmacy known as PIN Rx repeatedly refused to answer questions Monday before the state Board of Pharmacy.

Defense attorney Thomas Marjerison instructed his client, former Pin RX Chief Executive Officer Reginald Gracie Jr., to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when asked a series of questions by Assistant Attorney General Andrew Black.

Monday was the third day of the hearing before the state Board of Pharmacy, and the proceeding is expected to resume this morning.

Marjerison said the state’s insistence on continuing to ask questions despite Gracie’s responses was “cheap theatrics” for reporters attending the hearing. Marjerison claimed Black was “parading to the cameras.”

After an interruption from Black, Gracie was allowed to finish reading a prepared statement.

“I would very much like to testify to defend myself and my actions in this hearing, [but my] lawyer instructed me not to because my answers might incriminate me.”

The former Penobscot Nation mail-order pharmacy, which tribal officials and their counsel say was a separate business entity from the tribe, and two of its employees are accused of illegally filling prescriptions.

Gracie and Susan Tringale, both of whom held the title of pharmacist in charge at some point during the operation of PIN Rx, potentially face monetary fines and could have their licenses to practice suspended or revoked by the board, or the charges could be dismissed.

It’s unclear what penalty PIN Rx may face.

After about five minutes of questioning in which Gracie continued to refuse to answer any questions except to say his name, pharmacy board member John Harris asked Gracie whether he realized “by not answering our questions, there’s a thought that you’re admitting to everything here.”

Gracie didn’t respond, but Marjerison did request that the hearing be continued until the Fifth Amendment privilege no longer applies, meaning until there was no threat of criminal proceedings.

Black objected, saying there was no legal reason to postpone the hearing.

“No indictment has been filed,” he said.

Jim Smith, hearing officer for the Board of Pharmacy, agreed.

“I think it’s a little late in the game to ask for a continuance,” he said.

Despite Gracie’s reluctance to testify, Tringale answered questions posed by Black, defense attorneys for the accused pharmacists, and board members for much of the early afternoon.

Tringale, who gave some answers that contradicted testimony she had provided earlier in the day, admitted that as pharmacist in charge she was responsible for all transactions at the facility.

Tringale said that a few months after a decision was made by Gracie to begin working with Internet prescription-ordering centers in an attempt to boost revenue, she had some concerns and questioned the legality of the business.

“I was always told there are no rules saying we cannot do it,” Tringale said, adding that Gracie was the one who told her the business was legitimate.

It was Tringale’s understanding that the business was started with help from the state to service MaineCare, MaineRx, and elderly patients in Maine. When that business didn’t come in the volume expected, the pharmacy turned to the Internet to make money.

In March, the financially struggling company was purchased by I Care Pharmacy, which began providing prescription services to MaineCare clients formerly served by PIN Rx.

“I trusted too many people,” she said later in her testimony.

Tringale also stated that she didn’t know Gracie allegedly boosted his own pay by receiving more than $100,000 in kickbacks from some of the order centers over a six-month period, and that she never received money from the Internet companies nor did Gracie offer her a portion of his.

Despite her concerns, Tringale said, she enjoyed working with the tribe and when she resigned in early 2006 as pharmacist in charge, she asked to be allowed to stay on as a pharmacist.

Before formal testimony Monday, lawyers and the board discussed a news conference Friday by Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis.

Francis, who Marjerison said had been subpoenaed and refused to testify, is being requested by defense attorneys to appear at the pharmacy board proceeding.

During the first day of the hearing, on May 1, the attorney for PIN Rx presented the Board of Pharmacy a letter saying the company would not be participating in the hearing because it no longer was in business and that none of the board members would appear.

Attorneys for the two pharmacists are claiming that if Francis can hold a news conference to defend the tribe, he should be ordered to testify.

Marjerison called Francis’ actions “hypocritical.”

PIN Rx attorney Neal Pratt said in a phone interview later Monday that Francis was acting as a tribal official and not representing PIN Rx during the news conference.

“He wanted to make it clear that there’s another side of the story even if the state insists on proceeding on prosecuting an entity that no longer exists,” Pratt said. “As the elected chief of the Penobscot Indian Nation, he felt the public needed to be aware that the tribe, generally speaking, that any silence should not be interpreted as a sign of any wrongdoing.”

Tringale was asked a few times during Monday’s hearing whether she was upset that the people she didn’t want to desert had deserted her during the hearing.

“I just feel it’s a legal issue for them [and] if they were here they would defend me,” she said.