Federal drug enforcement agents seized the controlled substances records of two Washington County pharmacies on the morning of Feb. 10.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents executed two administrative inspection warrants at Eastport Family Pharmacy and Machias Family Pharmacy, both of which are owned by Benjamin Okafor, a Bangor-based pharmacist who has a history of being disciplined by the state’s pharmacy board, according to the warrant’s affidavit.
The pharmacies are the closest facilities for residents of Eastport, Lubec, East Machias and other towns in between for getting their needed medications.
Much of the affidavit details the Maine Board of Pharmacy’s disciplinary record for Okafor, his pharmacies and his employees. Most of the discipline revolves around erroneously kept records of controlled substances and improperly dispensed medications, according to court documents. Controlled substances are medications that are more strictly regulated than typical prescription drugs because of their potential for causing dependence.
No formal charges have been filed in relation to the warrants. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Lizotte confirmed the warrants were executed but could not comment further.
In 2014, Okafor began Family Pharmacy with the opening of the business in Eastport, where, at the time, residents didn’t have a dedicated pharmacy. Five years later he opened another location in Machias, which had lost its last independently owned pharmacy in 2017.
Okafor signed a consent agreement with the state board in 2016 after he filled an Oxycontin prescription that was over 90-days old, violating the board’s rules on Schedule II controlled substances. His Eastport location entered a separate agreement that same year after operating a retail pharmacy without a state license, according to court documents.
Three years later, the pharmacist was placed on a 30-day suspension and 10-year probation after the Board determined he altered prescription labels and records to hide that he had incorrectly dispensed Lyrica, a controlled substance.
Okafor did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Bangor Daily News.
Two other pharmacists are named in court documents, one of which, Ihezie Obi, is the designated lead pharmacist at Eastport’s branch. A pharmacist-in-charge is responsible for ensuring all medication transactions are in compliance with federal and state law.
Obi did not respond to inquiries from the Bangor Daily News. An employee who answered the Eastport Family Pharmacy phone, said Obi is on leave but could not say why. Both pharmacies remain open.
In January 2026, Obi’s pharmacist license was placed on a 3-year-probation after a healthcare provider submitted a complaint to the board that the Machias branch had mailed an Adderall prescription to a patient who was not prescribed the medication.
Obi, who worked at the Machias location at the time, said “the computer system auto-populated the wrong patient name because the patient names were similar,” according to court documents.
Obi was fined and ordered to receive professional education in 2021 after the board received multiple complaints about Obi improperly dispensing prescriptions, including controlled substances, according to court documents.
For a prescription of 15 lorazepam tablets with zero refills, Obi entered 36 refills into the pharmacy’s computer system. The medication was dispensed to the patient 11 times, according to court documents. Federal law prohibits controlled substances in Schedule III and IV from being refilled more than five times.
The Board found that Obi didn’t realize that a prescription for 23 alprazolam tablets, a controlled substance, was being filled for five more tablets than it should have been. He also didn’t catch when a prescription for a cholesterol reducer was mistakenly switched for an antidepressant, according to court documents.
The DEA is also investigating “intelligence” that alleged Okafor had sexual relations with pharmacy staff “in exchange for drugs,” according to court documents.
