2008 Crime in Maine Local Governments

Unecured bail means that the defendant does not post any money but there is a bail bond which imposes conditions on the defendant and, if the defendant violates the conditions, the person can be required to pay the amount of the unsecured bail. For minor charges, unsecured bail is common.

Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, [and former local elected official] said theft by municipal officials statewide "happens a lot."

Source

i thought that particular line was an all time best. McCausland served on the Town Council in Brunswick for a very long time, and was council chair for a considerable period.

That does not quite put him in the same "town official" category as those who draw a salary and spend 40 hours a week "in the mix."

I do have the honor of being called 'delusional' and 'frankly, inflammatory' by him, and I shall always cherish that experience. It was the moment I knew I had arrived.

You're my kind of man, Mel.
8)

WATERVILLE -- Michael Perkins, an Oakland town councilor, is facing a Jan. 9 arraignment in Waterville District Court after being summonsed on a charge of assaulting a 17-year-old boy enrolled in his KMD Driving School, Waterville police said.

WEIRD STORY

Cape Elizabeth Police Capt. Brent Sinclair is on paid administrative leave following an alleged drunk driving accident and his subsequent arrest in Gorham Oct. 4.

According to a press release issued by Gorham Police Department, officers responded to the scene of a two-car accident at the intersection of Main and South streets at 10:36 p.m. According to the press release, 46-year-old Sinclair’s 2008 Ford pickup collided with a 2004 Honda CRV driven by 53-year-old Susan Jensen.
Link

Oops. Seems to be a mini-epidemic in Maine.

Mount Desert official arrested for OUI
By Bill Trotter
BDN Staff

MOUNT DESERT, Maine — The chairman of the Board of Selectmen was arrested early Sunday morning on a charge of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants.

Jeffrey T. Smith, 59, was arrested around 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 2, after police found his car in the ditch off the side of Indian Point Road in the village of Pretty Marsh, Mount Desert Police Chief James Willis said Monday. Pretty Marsh is on the west side of Mount Desert Island.

BND

This is a sad thread Dan. What is the tally going to be by years end? :?

Bump for the Lyman town clerk.

From PM's other thread:

Town Clerk Vicki Swenson has been placed on administrative leave by the Board of Selectmen, leaving today’s elections in the hands of Deputy Town Clerk Shirley Harrison.

Not to long ago Shirley Harrison had retired. Yet her many years working for the citizens of the town of Lyman should be lucky to have her around, no sarcasm intended.

This was reported in todays Journal Tribune and it was on the front page. http://www.journaltribune.com/

Please note - the Journal uses the same link for a new page every day. Stories linked one day may be gone the next.

Naran, what "Crime" has the Lyman clerk committed? This thread is not accurately reporting "crimes" in local government.

I was just wondering if anybody had heard more because the selectman are not in the habit of putting somebody on administrative leave the night before the biggest general election of our time. This is a bold move on their part and must have had good cause to do this.

TM - keep your shirtwaist on. We can always remove the post if she's found to be innocent of any wrongdoing.

In the meantime, I agree with PM. Selectmen aren't generally known for this kind of action, not without real reason.

Isn't innocence 'presumed'? We don't yet know if there was any accusation of wrong doing on her part.

charlie

Same as some of the others that have been posted on this thread, if you look back. I don't think Dan started the thread with the proviso that only convicted crimes could be listed. However, he can certainly correct me if I'm mistaken.

From his very first post:

I think his real intention was to tick me off, but I've enjoyed this post just as much as those not in local government. :wink:

I've said before, if they are guilty fry them. What I like most is the obvious improvement of catching these folks as compared to other industries and compared to years before in local government. I maintain the reason for that is good solid education on the part of MMA to better inform their memberships about having better internal controls, better financial management and dilligence in tracking things like excise tax, seperate cash drawers, requiring two signatures on checks, accounting for voided transactions and cash receipts. If you read these stories, its never a citizen or even the police that first suspect that a crime is happening...it is 100% of the time another muncipal official or officials that tip off the police or the town's own auditor.

Horn. Own. Toot.
Much?

:P

TM is right about that one. MMA does an excellent job on this. And a few other things as well. As they should. It is when they reach beyond their primary function that I disagree with them.

Fired Gardiner official jailed
By Betty Adams Kennebec Journal Staff Writer
November 07, 2008

AUGUSTA -- The city of Gardiner's fired finance administrator began a nine-month jail term today for embezzling $195,000 from city coffers between June 2002 and June 2008.

Patricia Coty, 55, of Gardiner, went to jail immediately after the sentencing hearing today in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Justice John Nivison sentenced her to six years in jail, with all but nine months suspended, and three years' probation.

Source

How about the MMA starts putting a newsletter together, outlining the pitfalls of municipal embezzlement? Seems as if we've got an epidemic in Maine.

Perhaps they can persuade Martha Stewart to part with some of her jailhouse "Cozy Your Cell" tips, for the inaugural issue.
:P

17...that's the total number of true "crimes" in local government as this thread is intended. I didn't include the OUI's, or the other baloney that has been inserted in here that has nothing to do with what this was supposed to be. So if 17 crimes committed over multiple years is an "epidemic" I would strongly disagree. So the other 8 and half pages of this thread is rhetoric or other charges against people of some affiliation such as basketball coaches or OUI charges or non-municipal crimes all together.

Dan - common sense would say that for each instance of municipal fraud and embezzlement made public, there might be at least another one, lurking somewhere undetected as yet. Would I perhaps be offbase?

Even 17 convictions in a state as small as Maine isn't a good track record.

BANGOR, Maine — The jury is expected to begin deliberations today in the federal trial of a former Indian Township Passamaquoddy tribal governor and the tribe’s ex-business manager accused of misusing $1.7 million in federal funds between Oct. 1, 2002, and Sept. 30, 2006.

Robert L. Newell, 65, ... denied conspiring with former business manager James J. Parisi Jr., 45, of Portland, in an effort to use tribal money illegally.

Source

OK, honestly, I can live with the US Postal crimes that found their way into this thread...but now the indians??!! C'mon Naran, we don't want to claim the Tribes anymore than the State does. :shock:

Cripes on toast, TM - don't you have anything else to do, or critique? Aren't there MMA (More Money Always) newsletters you need to read, on boosting your town's dwindling excise tax revenues or patching state roads with town money, or something equally pressing?
:D

Dan started the thread. If Dan has a problem with me posting about quasi-governmental entities and fraud, I'm sure he'll let me know.

A veteran police officer and K-9 handler working for the Franklin County Sheriff's Department is on paid administrative leave after being arrested over the weekend on a charge of operating under the influence, a misdemeanor.
Christopher Chase, 33, of Wilton was pulled over by Wilton Police Officer Joshua King for a traffic violation on Main Street in East Wilton late Friday night. Chase was off-duty in his own vehicle and was on his way home when he was stopped, according to Franklin County Sheriff Dennis Pike. Morning Sentinel

Did they bust the dog, too?
:wink:

Maine cities are being given high marks in an annual analysis of crime statistics.
...snip

Among the 338 metropolitan areas that were ranked, Bangor was listed as the eighth-safest, Portland was the 28th-safest and Lewiston-Auburn came in at No. 60.

Logan, Utah, was named the nation’s safest metropolitan area, while Pine Bluff, Ark., was listed as the most dangerous.

Nation's Safest? Well, of course we are. All folks need to do is avoid the nearest town hall, and they'll be all set! Besides, most folks around here don't have the gas money to get into serious trouble.

Is this local government? Why not include Ted Stevens, Mark Foley, the attorney from Verrill Dana, and every other person convicted of a crime?

Fair enough to have a thread on crime in local government, but let's not let it devolve into items that are obtuse to the subject matter.