PORTLAND – Federal agents raided a podiatrist’s office in Portland on Wednesday, seizing records as part of a drug investigation, while state drug agents arrested the doctor in Cumberland.
Dr. John Perry, 49, was charged with violating bail conditions and possessing a gram of cocaine. He was taken to the Cumberland County Jail, where he was held without bail.
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In the investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, agents also searched Perry’s house, at 365 Main St. in Cumberland, and his car.
His office, Atlantic Foot & Ankle Center, is at 1711 Congress St. in Portland. A woman who answered the phone there declined to comment.
Perry was free on bail following his arrest April 4 on a charge of drunken driving. State police stopped him on Interstate 295 in South Portland at 5:15 a.m. that day. He allegedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.16 percent — twice the legal limit.
Perry admitted the conduct in a court agreement and was given a deferred disposition, meaning the drunken-driving charge would be reduced to a driving-to-endanger conviction as long as he engaged in no criminal conduct for a year.
His agreement with prosecutors allowed police to search him and his car and conduct blood tests to ensure compliance with the consent agreement, court records said.
A message left for Perry’s lawyer was not returned Wednesday afternoon.
A spokesman for the DEA declined comment, saying the investigation continues. The federal Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the Food and Drug Administration, did not respond to questions posed about the investigation by press time.
Perry was disciplined in 2003 by the state’s Board of Licensure of Podiatric Medicine in connection with violating professional standards in a doctor-patient relationship in 2001, according to the board’s website. He agreed to enroll in a medical ethics program and maintain a log of all narcotics prescriptions of 20 or more tablets, and to submit the log for board review for the next year.
The allegation involved sex in exchange for painkillers, but Perry vehemently denied it. He was not charged by South Portland police, who investigated the report, and the consent agreement with the board did not conclude that any such exchange had occurred.
The board did note that a telephone conversation taped by South Portland police as part of the investigation showed an unprofessional relationship between Perry and the woman who filed the complaint.
The drunken-driving charge is the only incident on Perry’s criminal record, according to the State Bureau of Identification.
The DEA, while focusing largely on illegal drug distribution, also monitors volumes of legal drugs that are prescribed by health professionals and enforces laws against diversion of those drugs for illicit use.
Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:
dhench@pressherald.com
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