A Portland mental health clinic and its providers agreed to pay a $20,000 settlement after Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigators found a variety of record-keeping failures regarding scheduled drugs.
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“Maintaining complete and accurate records is a baseline obligation of all DEA registrants, required to prevent controlled substances from being diverted from the legitimate drug supply,” said U.S. Attorney for Maine Andrew Benson.
“Investigations such as this—where investigators discovered undisclosed instances of actual drug diversion—reinforce the need to timely record and report such instances to the DEA,” he added.
DEA investigators conducted an audit of Riverbird, LLC, a Portland mental health clinic, in November 2024 and found multiple violations.
The audit revealed that employees of the clinic knew that one employee, Matthew Stevens, was allegedly stealing drugs and nevertheless failed to report the theft.
Employees allegedly also failed to inventory their supply of controlled substances after the clinic came under new ownership and failed to maintain complete and accurate records of those controlled drugs.
During the audit, employees at the clinic reportedly admitted that they had disposed of lorazepam, a Schedule IV controlled substance, but only recorded the disposal on a handwritten note instead of filling out the mandatory DEA paperwork.
The clinic, Stevens, and another provider at the clinic, Selma Holden, agreed to pay the $20,000 settlement. It is not clear how much of the total each party will pay or whether Stevens will face additional consequences after he allegedly stole drugs.
