Dr. Scott Diering, who worked briefly in 2004 in the emergency department at The Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle, has had his Maine medical license suspended until it expires permanently in February.

According to a notice from the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine, Diering’s professional history was investigated after the board received information that he had been disciplined in another state.

At its regular meeting on Jan. 8, the board found that Diering had practiced fraud and deceit by failing to report his habitual substance abuse, and that he “had acted in an unprofessional manner by stealing cocaine” left over from medical procedures while working at a hospital in Maryland. Liquid cocaine, a powerful vasoconstrictor, is sometimes used medically to stop bleeding.

A graduate of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, Diering now practices medicine in Missouri.