Man gives up license to practice

AUGUSTA -- A physician's assistant from Litchfield who faces a number of criminal charges has surrendered his license to practice medicine in Maine and agreed never to apply for reinstatement.

In an agreement approved Tuesday by the Maine Board of Medicine, Richard Brackett, 63, agreed to immediate and permanent revocation of his medical license.

Brackett's physician's assistant license was suspended by the same board on July 11, a week after he was arrested on a drug trafficking charge in Boothbay Harbor where he had worked at the Urgent Care Medical Clinic.

Brackett was indicted by a grand jury in Lincoln County in August on nine separate charges. He entered pleas of innocent to all of them at his arraignment.

Assistant Attorney General Marci Alexander, who is prosecuting Brackett, said on Thursday that the case is continuing.

Brackett remains free on bail. He is represented by attorney David Van Dyke. "Mr. Brackett strenuously denies the allegations and he intends to vigorously defend himself," Van Dyke said. "The case is very early in the process."

"There has been a truly genuine outpouring of emotion in support of him in Lincoln County. Dozens of people have voiced their support of him and he is gratified by that," Van Dyke said.

n Two counts of unlawful trafficking in hydrocodone between June 29, 2005, and June 14, 2006.

n Four counts of violation of privacy between April 1 and July 6, 2006. Brackett is accused of hiding four video cameras in clock radios placed in different areas of the Townsend Avenue building that housed the clinic. Those sites included a bathroom and the bedrooms of three second-floor apartments.

n One count of prostitution in which he is accused of offering drugs in exchange for sex on July 5.

n One count of theft by deception in which he is accused of falsely submitting reimbursement claims to MaineCare in excess of $1,000. The charge is a Class C felony, which covers thefts in amounts up $10,000.

Brackett was initially licensed to practice as a physician's assistant in Maine in 1987. According to information posted on the Web by the state Board of Licensure in Medicine, Brackett graduated in 1976 from the U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences in Texas.

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