BANGOR — The former head pharmacist for the Penobscot Indian Nation’s defunct mail-order pharmacy in Maine has pleaded not guilty to taking kickbacks from Internet drug companies.

Forty-year-old Reginald Gracie Jr. of Bowdoin appeared Tuesday in federal court in Bangor.

Gracie was indicted last month on 19 counts of soliciting and receiving kickbacks, and two counts of filing false tax returns for failing to report the kickbacks as income on his taxes.

Prosecutors say Gracie received more than $120,000 from six online companies in return for making sure the tribe’s mail-order pharmacy, known as PIN Rx, filled the prescriptions of the companies’ customers. The tribe has not been charged.

The Bangor Daily News says Gracie was released on personal recognizance bail. Gracie’s pharmacist license was revoked by the state in 2007.

 


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