An Alabama pharmacist who served time for prescribing pain pills online is suing the Alabama Board of Pharmacy for taking away his license, alleging the board is corrupt and that he was maliciously prosecuted.

“Defendants acted with malice, personal animosity, and used the proceedings primarily for purposes other than bringing the plaintiff to justice,” the complaint, filed in federal court last week, states.

The board removed pharmacist Billy East’s license after he served time for a felony conviction. But in 2022, the Attorney General’s office investigated the board’s decision and reinstated East’s license. He is currently licensed.

The Alabama Board of Pharmacy did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2008, East was convicted of selling hydrocodone, addictive painkillers, online. The prosecutor in his case, Lloyd Peoples, said East’s actions resulted in 5 million pills being put out on the street, many of which were sold to addicts. He was sentenced to two years in federal prison.

After prison, he began practicing again, Federal law requires the pharmacy, not the pharmacist, to seek clearance for a pharmacist to practice after a felony, the suit says. It also alleges that the owner of the pharmacy where East worked, Brooklere Pharmacy in Adamsville, called the board to confirm that it would be OK to hire East. When East went back to work after prison, he contends, his employer failed to seek a waiver to allow him to do so.

The lawsuit alleges that members of the state board knew that it was not East’s responsibility to obtain the waiver and still revoked his license.

“The Board contends it can provide evidence that East repeated malpractice or committed acts of gross malpractice negligence by knowingly working in a pharmacy that was in violation of Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations,” the board stated in its 2022 filing in response to East’s motion to dismiss their case against him.

The Attorney General’s office intervened in 2022 and East’s license was reinstated.

His lawsuit against the board now claims that the board engages in corrupt practices, including demanding excessive fees and fines from Alabama pharmacists.

“We all want these agencies to operate in a way they protect the public and not harm the public,” said East’s attorney, Martin Weinberg. “And we think the opposite is being done here.”

According to the suit, the board collects fees and fines far beyond the amounts necessary. In 2019, the Alabama Board of Nursing, with 101, 020 members, collected $141,810 in fines. The Alabama Board of Dental Examiners, with 6,892 members, collected $138,082, whereas the Alabama Board of Pharmacy, with 28,410 members, collected $855,360.

Other states see fewer fines. In 2019, Texas’s pharmacy board, which licenses 114,430 members, collected $310,490 in fines. Arizona’s board, with 37,797 members, collected $63,872.

The lawsuit claims that an attorney for the board, Jim Ward, threatened and intimidated East and misused administrative processes to hold conversations meant to prejudice the results of the board’s case against him.

There are no non-pharmacist members on the board to provide a check for how the board operates, said a second attorney for East, Caroline Pruitt Hooten, adding that there is also a lack of legislative oversight over the finances of the board.

“They’re incentivized to bring charges against pharmacists,” for revenue, she said, “and then they’re allowed to apportion that money amongst themselves, however they see fit.”