BATH -- A sentencing hearing ended without a sentence Wednesday in the case of a former physician's assistant who spied on patients and traded drugs for sex.

Richard Brackett, 66, formerly of Litchfield and now of Gardiner, was found guilty in June of four counts of violating privacy by placing cameras in three bedrooms and a bathroom in a clinic building where he worked in Boothbay Harbor.

The same jury convicted him of one count of prostitution, in which he offered drugs in exchange for sex; one count of theft by deception, for falsely submitting more than $1,000 in reimbursement claims to MaineCare; and one count of unlawful trafficking in hydrocodone.

The offenses occurred between June 2005 and July 2006 while Brackett worked at Urgent Care Medical Clinic in Boothbay Harbor. Brackett -- a decorated combat medic -- had been at the ambulatory care facility since 1997.

Justice Andrew Horton agreed to a continuation of Wednesday's hearing at the request of Brackett's attorney, David Van Dyke, who said issues had arisen with Brackett's health.

Van Dyke proposes a sentence of no more than four years for Brackett with most, if not all, of it suspended.

Prosecutor Lisa Bogue is asking Horton to sentence Brackett to eight years in prison, with all but three years suspended, and three years' probation. She is also asking that Brackett pay $2,248 restitution to MaineCare.

"He unlawfully trafficked in hydrocodone while wearing the guise of a health care provider," Bogue wrote in a sentencing memo to the judge. "He breached his position of trust and used his patients' substance-abuse addictions for his own financial gain and sexual gratification. He abused the privileges granted to him by the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine and the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency."

The jury trial before Horton was held in Lincoln County. The sentencing hearing was in Sagadahoc County Superior Court.

Brackett, who surrendered his medical license shortly after his indictment in August 2006, had been free on postconviction bail.

About 45 people watched Wednesday's proceedings, many of them longtime friends and patients of Brackett's. A number of people asked the judge to be lenient.

Brackett's wife, Bridget, said she had been horrified by the jury's verdict and that life for the couple had been difficult since his indictment.

"We are a good and decent family, and my husband is a good man," she said.

Brackett's son, Christian, who had an apartment at the clinic, said he saw his father treat several people a day who could not pay.

"My dad gave free medical care to so many people and families," he said.

"This chapter in Richard's life over the past few years seems a total anomaly," said Valerie Seaton, who said she and her husband had known the Brackett family for 33 years.

Peter Panagore, who worked across the street from the clinic, said, "The hole left by the closing of the clinic still has not been filled."

In his opening statement, Van Dyke told the jury Brackett had been a physician's assistant in the military from 1961 to 1981, retiring with grade of captain and as a member of the Physician's Assistants Hall of Fame.

"Mr. Brackett entered 2006 a duly-licensed, Drug Enforcement Agency-approved physician's assistant, owning a business, a commercial building, a residence and even several classic automobiles," Van Dyke wrote in a sentencing memo which was filed with the court. "He leaves at the other end of this prosecution a penniless, unemployed and shamed felon.

"In truth, and with all due respect to the court, there is nothing that the court can do by way of sentence which can match the loss which Mr. Brackett has already suffered."

Horton reset the sentencing for 1 p.m. Nov. 23 in Bath.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com