AUGUSTA — One former Riverview Psychiatric Center patient is accused of stealing drugs and furnishing them to a fellow outpatient.
Each of the two men allegedly involved previously was found not criminally responsible for murdering a parent in separate cases, and each remains in the custody of the commissioner of the Department of Health & Human Services.
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The alleged drug dealing involving Kristian McKay and William Bruce is outlined in Kennebec County Superior Court documents.
The state and the superintendent of Riverview, the state forensic hospital that treats people with severe and persistent mental illness, including those charged with crimes and those found not criminally responsible for crimes because of mental illness, wouldn’t comment on the case.
“We have no comment at this time as this involves an ongoing investigation,” Department of Health & Human Services spokesman David Sorensen said via email on Monday.
So far, the allegation against McKay has cost him all his privileges, including being allowed to live in a supervised Augusta apartment and having up to 12 hours unsupervised in the community a day, including extensive time with his wife and children.
Maine Supreme Court Associate Justice Donald Alexander ordered that McKay remain in Riverview, that he “be tested randomly for illegal and unauthorized substances,” and prohibited him from unsupervised, off-grounds activities.
Alexander issued the order last week in Kennebec County Superior Court following a court hearing Jan. 16. The order notes that McKay “has a long history of substance abuse, dating back to his early teens.”
The order came in response to the state’s motion to revoke McKay’s privileges and just four months after McKay was granted up to 30 hours a week unsupervised in the community to work, volunteer or go to class. He also was authorized to own a car and drive it within 25 miles of his home.
McKay, 29, formerly of Standish, was found not criminally responsible for the March 2007 stabbing death of his father.
The state is charging McKay with stealing Xanax (a brand name for alprazolam, which is used to treat anxiety disorders) and Ritalin (a brand name for methylphenidate, which is used to treat attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder), allegedly belonging to his wife, and furnishing those drugs to Bruce, who, in turn, gave McKay “psilocybin” mushrooms, according to the prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Laura Yustak Smith.
McKay gave the pills away without asking for money, according to a letter from Susan Fasulo, the mental health caseworker supervisor for the Riverview Outpatient Services Team responsible for supervising and treating McKay. The letter was sent to the court, to Smith and to the State Forensic Service, which evaluates people for the court.
It also said McKay reported that in mid-December he bought two nip-sized liquor bottles of Jagermeister and drank them in his apartment. His most recent treatment release order prohibits him from having alcohol.
Smith cited the letter in her motion seeking revocation of McKay’s privileges and an order vacating modified release treatment plans.
It was unclear whether the attorney general’s office had requested a hearing in Bruce’s case.
McKay was initially confined to his apartment and then hospitalized at Riverview on Jan. 13.
Smith cites the letter from Fasulo, saying McKay “admitted to several separate occasions of obtaining and using alcohol, prescription drugs and illegal drugs in December 2014.”
It says that in addition to supplying the prescription drugs to Bruce, who is not referred to by name, McKay “admitted obtaining marijuana from a different individual in the custody of the commissioner, and using it.”
In her motion to the court, Smith wrote, “The use of street drugs, particularly psychoactive substances, by forensic patients on psychiatric medications, particularly those mentally ill persons who committed the ultimate act of violence, warrants intensive evaluation by the hospital and review by the State Forensic Service and the court in order to ensure that changes in treatment be implemented to protect the safety of the (patient) and the community.”
Information provided at a previous treatment release hearing indicated that McKay was permitted to move to a supervised group home in 2010 and was temporarily rehospitalized six months later as a result of his use of K-2, also known as Spice.
McKay is represented by defense attorney J. Mitchell Flick. Flick did not immediately return a phone message left Monday afternoon.
Bruce was found not criminally responsible for the June 20, 2006, killing of his mother in their Caratunk home, and he was placed in the custody of the commissioner of the Department of Health & Human Services and sent for treatment to the state forensic hospital.
Bruce previously had a judge’s permission to live at 14 Glenridge Drive, Augusta, under supervision, as well as to go to work, attend college classes and be unsupervised in the community for up to 30 hours a week, according to a Dec. 8 court order.
Bruce, 33, was returned to Riverview Jan. 9 following a meeting with the Riverview Outpatient Services staff.
A letter to the court as well as to Smith from Mary T. Beyer, program service director for the Riverview Outpatient Services staff, said Bruce reported using cocaine and Ritalin as well as distributing Xanax and Ritalin “to a peer in the (Outpatient Services program) and a community member he met in AA.”
Beyer said Bruce denied using illegal and non prescribed substances Jan. 8 and then admitted it a day later “upon discovering he would be screened for drugs and alcohol for medical clearance at MaineGeneral Medical Center” before his return to Riverview’s Lower Saco Unit, the admissions unit for forensic patients.
Bruce is represented in court proceedings by defense attorney Harold Hainke. Hainke did not immediately return a message for comment left Monday afternoon.
Riverview has been under scrutiny by federal regulators for a year and a half after corrections officers were brought into the hospital to handle particularly assaultive patients.
More recently on Jan. 12, Jason Begin, a former Riverview patient, was shot by an Augusta police officer responding to the offices of the Riverview Outpatient Services program in the former MaineGeneral Medical Center location on East Chestnut Street. Police say Begin was armed with a knife.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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