Dumbasses At Maine’s Department Of Health And Human Services Had Out $4.8 Million In Extra Food Stamp Benefits, Wants Their Money Back, But Feds And Lawmakers Tell State It Must Take Responsibility For Its Own Stupidity

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) – Gov. Paul LePage’s administration says it will “aggressively” appeal a decision by federal officials barring the state from recouping food-supplement benefits from people who weren’t eligible.

Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew says the decision by the Food and Nutrition Service shifts financial responsibility for $4.8 million in overpayments from food supplement recipients to Maine taxpayers.

In March, Maine was directed by the government to recover funds from those who received benefits to which they were not entitled. But now, Mayhew says the federal agency seems to have disregarded its previous directive.

Maine legislative Democratic leaders blame the state for the error. House Democratic Leader Emily Cain of Orono says the administration must take responsibility for the $4.8 million debt.

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Crime Of The Century: Orono Maine Police Go All Out In Search For Two Girls Who Stole Three Cans Of Beer

ORONO, MAINE — Orono police are looking for two unidentified women who stole beer from the back storage cooler of the Thriftway store on Park Street Sunday night.

The two women, who are shown clearly on store security camera footage, asked to use the employee restroom out back shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday night. While back there, one or both of them broke into a case of beer and removed three cans, according to Sgt. Scott Lajoie.

The images show two women, one with dark hair and wearing what appears to be a black shirt with the word “Diamonds” and a logo on it. The other woman has blonde hair and was wearing a gray Cleveland Browns football team sweatshirt.

If anyone believes they know the identity of either or both of the women, they are asked to call Officer Stephen Marko or Detective Derek Dinsmore at 866-4000. Anyone preferring to make an anonymous tip can do so through Orono’s public safety website using the “Crime Watch” link, which is

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Clinton Maine Police Officer Derek Levasseur Arrested And Charged With Simple Assault And Domestic Violence Assault

CLINTON, MAINE — A reserve officer for the town police department was arrested recently on six charges, but few details are available.

Derek Levasseur was charged earlier this month with five counts of simple assault and one count of domestic violence assault, according to Town Manager Aaron Chrostowsky. He is now on unpaid administrative leave pending an investigation.

Maine State Police is handling the case, but Lt. Donald Pomelow said a report of the incident hasn’t been completed by Trooper Joe Chretien. Pomelow said he won’t be able to provide a time, date or place of the incident or arrest until Thursday morning.

“The report doesn’t give me enough information at this point,” he said.

Pomelow said he believes the incident occurred more than a week ago, and it wasn’t reported to police until the next day. Originally, Levasseur was going to be summoned for simple assault, but additional information led to his arrest on a charge of domestic violence assault.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland is on vacation this week and could not be reached. McCausland’s assistant Donna Hall referred all questions to Pomelow.

District Attorney Alan Kelley did not respond to messages left with his secretary.

An intake worker at Kennebec County jail, who wouldn’t disclose her name, said jail workers were notified of Levasseur’s arrest and expected to receive him shortly afterward, but later discovered Levasseur had posted bail at the police station where he was arrested and was released. The intake worker did not recall the date of arrest, where it occurred or where he posted bail. She said jail policy prevents her from releasing her name to the media.

Clinton Police Chief Craig Johnson said he couldn’t comment on the case because it’s being handled by state police. Levasseur, as a reserve officer, worked on a per diem basis. He was hired by the town in February and worked fewer than 20 days since then, Johnson estimated.

Chrostowsky also couldn’t comment on the case, but said the town would hold an internal investigation.

“We’re taking the matter seriously,” he said.

Levasseur could not be reached by phone Wednesday.

Levasseur also served for less than a year as a deputy for Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, according Capt. Dan Davies. The sheriff’s office hired Levasseur in March 2010.

In August 2010, Levasseur attended a basic law enforcement training program at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and graduated four months later in December.

Levasseur resigned before completing his first year of employment. Davies said he couldn’t discuss anything else about Levasseur’s tenure because personnel matters are confidential.

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Operation Hot Spots: Massive Local, State, And Federal Police Sweep In Lewiston Maine Results In Arrest Of A Prostitute, Man Drinking Under “No Drinking” Sign, And One Random Dude With A Gun Who Was Probaly Minding His Own Business

LEWISTON, MAINE — Three people were charged in an ongoing police sweep Thursday, including a man officials say was walking on Pine Street with a loaded handgun.

Police also charged a suspected prostitute accused of turning a trick downtown and a man caught sipping liquor beneath a sign that warned: “No drinking.”

Local, state and federal agents were back on the streets throughout the day as part of the ongoing effort known as “Operation Hot Spots.”

At about 3:30 p.m., undercover agents moved in on Anthony Foster, 33, of Lewiston, who was suspected of carrying a gun as he walked up Pine Street.

Officers surrounded Foster and when they searched him, they found a loaded handgun, police said. He was taken to jail on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The arrest on Pine Street drew a crowd of nearly 100 people and led to some early confusion. Several people called 911 to report that one man was robbing another near the intersection of Pine and Bartlett streets. Police said onlookers may have been confused because the arrest was made by undercover agents.

Foster was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn where he remained Thursday night.

His criminal record in the area is extensive and dates back to the 1990s. In February, he was found guilty of carrying a concealed weapon. Previously, he was in and out of jail on a variety of charges, including disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and driving violations.

In 1998, Foster was arrested in a high-profile case in which he was accused of siccing his pit bull on a police officer near Kennedy Park. Foster was arrested in that incident on charges of aggravated assault and assault on a police officer.

Lewiston police and agents from the Maine Drug Enfordcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been maintaining a heavy presence in downtown Lewiston. The summertime effort was prompted by a spate of violence that included several reports of gunfire in the spring.

People who live in the downtown have been complaining about a variety of things, among them prostitution and public drinking.

On Thursday, police focused on both. Arrested for engaging in prostitution was Jessie Judd, 26, of Lewiston.

On Walnut Street, in the area of Poirier’s Market, which has been identified as a trouble zone, police arrested Roderick Holmes, 39, and charged him with drinking in public.

Police said Holmes was drinking alcohol beneath a sign that specifically warned against that behavior.

Lewiston police Chief Michael Bussiere said Operation Hot Spots will continue as summer winds down. His team on Thursday, he said, was able to zero in on suspects engaging in the kinds of activities police have been trying to combat.

“It was a little bit of everything,” Bussiere said.

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BROKE: 16 States Now Rationing Prescription Drugs For Medicaid Patients

WASHINGTON, DC – Sixteen states have set a limit on the number of prescription drugs they will cover for Medicaid patients, according to Kaiser Health News.

Seven of those states, according to Kaiser Health News, have enacted or tightened those limits in just the last two years.

Medicaid is a federal program that is carried out in partnership with state governments. It forms an important element of President Barack Obama’s health-care plan because under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act–AKA Obamcare–a larger number of people will be covered by Medicaid, as the income cap is raised for the program.

With both the expanded Medicaid program and the federal subsidy for health-care premiums that will be available to people earning up to 400 percent of the poverty level, a larger percentage of the population will be wholly or partially dependent on the government for their health care under Obamacare than are now.

In Alabama, Medicaid patients are now limited to one brand-name drug, and HIV and psychiatric drugs are excluded.

Illinois has limited Medicaid patients to just four prescription drugs as a cost-cutting move, and patients who need more than four must get permission from the state.

Speaking on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on Monday, Phil Galewitz, staff writer for Kaiser Health News, said the move “only hurts a limited number of patients.”

“Drugs make up a fair amount of costs for Medicaid. A lot of states have said a lot of drugs are available in generics where they cost less, so they see this sort of another move to push patients to take generics instead of brand,” Galewitz said.

“It only hurts a limited number of patients, ‘cause obviously it hurts patients who are taking multiple brand name drugs in the case of Alabama, Illinois. Some of the states are putting the limits on all drugs. It’s another place to cut. It doesn’t hurt everybody, but it could hurt some,” he added.

Galewitz said the move also puts doctors and patients in a “difficult position.”

“Some doctors I talked to would work with patients with asthma and diabetes, and sometimes it’s tricky to get the right drugs and the right dosage to figure out how to control some of this disease, and just when they get it right, now the state is telling them that, ‘Hey, you’re not going to get all this coverage. You may have to switch to a generic or find another way,’” he said.

Arkansas, California, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia have all placed caps on the number of prescription drugs Medicaid patients can get.

“Some people say it’s a matter of you know states are throwing things up against the wall to see what might work, so states have tried, they’ve also tried formularies where they’ll pick certain brand name drugs over other drugs. So states try a whole lot of different things. They’re trying different ways of paying providers to try to maybe slow the costs down,” Galewitz said.

“So it seems like Medicaid’s sort of been one big experiment over the last number of years for states to try to control costs, and it’s an ongoing battle, and I think drugs is just now one of the … latest issues. And it’s a relatively recent thing, only in the last 10 years have we really seen states put these limits on monthly drugs,” he added.

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Lowiston Maine Police Officer Arrested For Violating Bail Conditions – Arrested After Brutal Attack On His Girlfriend In May – Quit After Being Suspended – Now Charged After Returning To His Victim’s Home

LEWISTON, MAINE — A former police officer was arrested early Thursday and charged with violating bail stemming from an alleged assault on his girlfriend in the spring.

Timothy Darnell, 47, was arrested at 3:30 a.m. on Roland Avenue, charged with violating conditions of release, violating bail and criminal trespass.

An 18-year veteran of the police force, Darnell remained at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn on Thursday night. He had resigned from the Lewiston Police Department after his arrest in the spring.

Darnell is accused of violating conditions set after his arrest in May, during which he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend on Free Street in Portland. He was arrested a second time the next morning, accused of returning to the alleged victim’s home.

By that point, he already had surrendered his police badge and gun and had been placed on administrative leave. He resigned a short time later, according to Deputy Police Chief James Minkowsky.

In her complaint, the alleged victim wrote that Darnell “assaulted me the evening of (Saturday, May 5) in Portland.” She accused him of “grabbing me by the throat and shoving my head into a glass window.”

Friends of the couple have described the relationship as tumultuous. Protection orders have been filed prohibiting Darnell from approaching the woman.

Darnell started with the Lewiston Police Department in 1994. He served as a Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer, working with elementary schoolchildren. He was also a school resource officer and a Gang Resistance Education and Training instructor for Lewiston Middle School.

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Mentally Ill US Navy Employee Set $400 Million Kittery Maine Submarine Fire So He Could Go Home Early – 24 Year Old Painter Faces Life In A Federal Prison

PORTLAND, MAINE - Navy investigators say a civilian employee working as a painter and sandblaster aboard a submarine at a Maine shipyard has been charged with setting a fire that heavily damaged the vessel in May, and another near it in June.

In a complaint filed Monday in federal court, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service says 24-year-old Casey James Fury has been charged with two counts of arson involving the USS Miami.

At Fury’s initial court appearance Monday, a judge scheduled a combined probable cause and bail hearing for Aug. 3.

The submarine sustained an estimated $400 million in damage while in dry dock for an overhaul at the Kittery shipyard.

An affidavit says Fury admitted setting the fires because he had anxiety and wanted to get out of work early.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

A civilian employee set a fire that caused $400 million in damage to a nuclear-powered submarine because he had anxiety and wanted to get out of work early, Navy investigators said in a complaint filed Monday.

Casey James Fury, 24, of Portsmouth, N.H., faces up to life in prison if convicted of two counts of arson in the fire aboard the USS Miami attack submarine while it was in dry dock May 23 and a second blaze outside the sub on June 16.

Fury was taking medications for anxiety and depression and told investigators he set the fires so he could get out of work, according a seven-page affidavit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland.

If convicted of either charge, Fury could face life imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 and be ordered to pay restitution, officials said. His federal public defender, David Beneman, declined to comment. A court appearance was set for Monday afternoon.

The Miami was in dry dock at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, for an overhaul when the fire damaged the torpedo room and command area inside the forward compartment. It took more than 12 hours to extinguish.

A second fire was reported June 16 on the dry dock cradle on which the Miami rests, but there was no damage and no injuries.

Fury, who was working on the sub as a painter and sandblaster, initially denied starting the fires but eventually acknowledged his involvement, the affidavit states.

He admitted setting the May 23 fire, which caused an estimated $400 million in damage, while taking a lie-detector test and being told by the examiner he wasn’t being truthful.

Fury told Timothy Bailey, an agent for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, that “his anxiety started getting really bad,” so he grabbed his cigarettes and a lighter, walked up to a bunk room and set fire to some rags on the top bunk.

The Navy originally said the fire started when an industrial vacuum cleaner sucked up a heat source that ignited debris inside.

Fury said he set the second fire after getting anxious over a text-message exchange with an ex-girlfriend about a man she had started seeing, according to the affidavit. He wanted to leave work early, so he took some alcohol wipes and set them on fire outside the submarine.

Fury said he initially lied about setting the fires “because he was scared and because everything was blurry to him and his memory was impacted due to his anxiety and the medication he was taking at the time,” according to the affidavit.

Fury told NCIS agent Jeremy Gauthier that he was taking three medications for anxiety, depression and sleep, and a fourth for allergies. He checked himself into an in-patient mental health facility on June 21 and checked himself out two days later, the affidavit reads.

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Maine Governor: IRS Now The “New Gestapo” Under Obama Health Care Law

MAINE – Gov. Paul LePage used his weekly radio address to blast President Obama’s health care law and described the Internal Revenue Service as the “new Gestapo.”

The IRS description was a reference to a provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires Americans not insured by their employers or Medicaid to buy health insurance or pay an annual penalty when filing their tax returns. The provision, known more broadly as the individual mandate, was the subject of a multi-state lawsuit, but was recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

LePage said the court decision has “made America less free.”

“We the people have been told there is no choice,” he said. “You must buy health insurance or pay the new Gestapo — the IRS.”

Maine Democratic Party Chairman Ben Grant, responding to LePage’s remarks, said, “We’ve come to expect a bunch of nonsense from Gov. LePage, but this is a step too far. There appears now to be no limit to the extreme language he will use to misinform, degrade and insult people. Somebody needs to explain to him that he’s the governor of a state, and not a talk radio host. I demand a full apology on behalf of all those who suffered at the hands of the real Gestapo.”

“There is nothing that degrades politics more than purported leaders who so cavalierly invoke the worst in human history when they can’t get their way in legitimate, modern policy disagreements,” Grant said.

The Gestapo were Nazi Germany’s official secret police under Adolf Hitler, who imprisoned and murdered thousands of people without cause.

The debate over the mandate has become a political flash point since the health law was enacted. Republicans maintain that the requirement is an unfair tax. Democrats say the mandate was originally a Republican idea born from the conservative Heritage Foundation, which introduced the measure in 1989 as a counterpoint to calls for a single-payer health care system.

LePage also addressed another element of the health-care law that was immediately thrust into the public debate: Medicaid expansion. Originally, the Affordable Care Act required states to increase eligibility for low-income residents or pay a penalty. The court decision struck down the penalty; however, the federal government is still offering to pay for the expansion.

The federal government will fund 100 percent of the expansion from 2014 to 2016, gradually declining to 90 percent after that.

LePage says he needs more answers before making a decision about the Medicaid expansion, which has been assailed by fellow Republican governors. At least 15 have said they’ll forgo the federal funding.

LePage said the state doesn’t know how the federal matches will be paid for and how the newly eligible recipients would be defined.

“However, Maine is already a welfare expansion state because of the generous benefits offered,” he said, adding that Maine’s welfare costs are among the highest in the nation because the state had expanded Medicaid prior to the Republican electoral sweep of 2010.

The governor also appeared to preempt potential pressure from hospitals to support Medicaid expansion.

Hospitals may end up supporting the expansion because increased Medicaid offerings lower uncompensated, or charity, care levels.

Uncompensated care is health-care costs that hospitals absorb because people can’t or won’t pay. A recent report in the Portland Press Herald showed that uncompensated care by Maine hospitals has doubled over the last five years, from $94 million to $194 million.

LePage said that increasing Medicaid may make it more difficult to pay hospitals the $500 million the state already owes in reimbursement.

The governor added that Maine will not move forward the ACA’s insurance exchanges — the marketplaces where individuals can shop for health plans from private companies — until the proposed $800 million tab to pay for them passes Congress.

“With these looming uncertainties circling around this issue, Maine cannot move forward right now with Obamacare,” LePage said.

The governor finished his radio address by outlining his ideological opposition to the health-care law, which he said “raises taxes, cuts Medicare for the elderly, gets between patients and their doctors, costs trillions of taxpayer dollars, and kills jobs.”

“Even more disheartening is that reviving the American dream just became nearly impossible to do,” he said. “We are now a nation which supports dependency rather than independence. Instead of encouraging self-reliance, we are encouraging people to rely on the government.”

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Vacuum Cleaner Caused $400 Million In Damages To US Nuclear Submarine

PORTSMOUTH, MAINE – A fire last month aboard a U.S. nuclear submarine that caused more than $400 million in damage may have been caused by a vacuum cleaner, the Navy said Wednesday.

“Preliminary findings indicate the fire started in a vacuum cleaner used to clean work sites at end of shift, and stored in an unoccupied space,” the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Congressional and Public Affairs Office said in a news release. “Specific details as to the cause and subsequent damage assessment are still being evaluated as part of ongoing investigations and will be released at a later date.”

Public Affairs Officer Deb White said she did not know what kind of vacuum cleaner had been implicated in the blaze or whether the same machine was used by any other nuclear submarines.

The May 24 incident affected the forward compartment of the USS Miami, where the crew’s living quarters, command and control spaces and the torpedo room are, the release said.

“Miami’s nuclear propulsion spaces were not affected by the fire,” the release said. “The ship’s nuclear propulsion plant was not operating at the time and the plant had been shut down for over two months. Nuclear propulsion spaces were isolated from the forward compartment fire early and spaces remained habitable, manned and in a safe and stable condition throughout the entire event. There were no torpedoes or other weapons onboard the submarine.”

Cleanup in the forward compartment began last week and the Navy estimated an “initial rough repair cost” of $400 million, plus some 10% for what it called “secondary effects,” including disruption to other planned work in the shipyards and the possible need to contract work to the private sector.

The submarine was commissioned in 1990 and carries a crew of 12 officers and 98 enlisted personnel, according to the Navy.

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US Navy Nuclear Powered Submarine USS Miami Catches Fire At Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

KITTERY, MAINE – A fire has been reported on a nuclear-powered submarine at a Maine shipyard.

Fire crews are responding to the blaze on the USS Miami SSN 755 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, located on an island in the small town of Kittery near Portsmouth, N.H. The Portsmouth Herald newspaper says several firefighters have been injured.

Shipyard public affairs specialist Gary Hildreth says the fire is located in the forward compartment of the sub. The shipyard says the sub’s reactor wasn’t operating at the time of Wednesday evening’s fire and wasn’t affected.

Nonessential personnel have been removed from the sub. Black smoke has been billowing overhead, visible from surrounding areas.

The USS Miami is a Los Angeles class submarine. It arrived at the shipyard for maintenance and upgrade work in March. Its home station is Groton, Conn., where the U.S. Navy has a submarine base.

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Former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Joseph Silva Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison After Raping Woman In Maine

ALFRED, MAINE – A former Massachusetts state trooper was sentenced Thursday for sexually assaulting a woman from Portsmouth.

Joseph Silva received a 10-year sentence on a gross assault charge and received seven years each for the two aggravated assault charges and 10 years probation.

Silva made a brief apology in court, and his sister spoke on his behalf. The victim wrote a letter and did not appear in court.

The state asked for a 25-year sentence for Silva.

Silva, who lived in Newburyport, Mass., arranged to have dinner with the woman.

Later, Silva lured the woman to the Roadway Inn, in Kittery, telling her they could watch a Patriots football game.

Prosecutors said Silva raped and assaulted the woman, who managed to get away the next morning.

Silva was arrested in 2009 and indicted earlier this year.

It only took the jury about an hour to reach its verdict during last month’s trial

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Thieves Steal 1000 Marijuana Plants From Farmington Maine Police Department’s Dark And Unsecure Storage Facility A Few Hours After Drug Bust

FARMINGTON, MAINE - About 1,000 marijuana plants were stolen from a Farmington law enforcement storage facility overnight Tuesday.

Farmington police officers discovered the break-in Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., according to police Chief Jack Peck.

An overhead garage door had been “pried open” and much of the marijuana, seized Tuesday in a northern Franklin County drug raid, was gone, Peck said.

The facility is on U.S. Route 2, also known as Farmington Falls Road, east of downtown. It is a half mile from the town police station.

Two electronic garage doors are the only entrance to the building, according to Peck, and the police department has the only remotes to open the doors.

Only the town stores equipment at the facility, he said, and nothing other than the marijuana was taken.

Interviews of residents in adjoining homes, in some cases less than 20 feet away, turned up no witnesses, according to Peck. And rain overnight may have interfered with an attempt by a state police K-9 unit to track the marijuana.

State police and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency are assisting in the investigation. Officials with the MDEA did not return requests for comment.

Law enforcement officials on Tuesday night hauled the plants to the Farmington facility, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. He was unable to provide the exact time of delivery.

While town police store their evidence at the station, it is common for outside police agencies to request overnight storage at the U.S. Route 2 facility.

“To my understanding it was the plan to move the marijuana plants Wednesday,” Peck said.

There are no alarms or security lighting at the building, according to Peck, and the only lighting is provided by lights along the road. He plans to discuss installing an alarm with town selectmen.

“It’s not designed, nor was it, to be a evidence storage facility,” Peck said.

The incident is sure to have an impact on how and where law enforcement agencies choose to keep their evidence.

“The DEA will be reviewing their polices as to where evidence is stored temporarily or permanently in the state as a result of this,” said McCausland.

The marijuana plants had been seized from the properties of a father and son in Phillips, according to McCausland.

Tad Smith, 45, and Joseph Smith, 64, were both charged with felony cultivating marijuana after multiple law enforcement agencies early Tuesday morning discovered the plants on and around their properties.

Materials linked to processing marijuana, such as packaging materials and scales, were also found during the raid, according to McCausland. If convicted of the charge, they face up to 10 years in prison, according to McCausland.

Seventeen handguns were also seized from the father and son during the raid. No charges were filed related to the handguns.

Both men had been released Tuesday on $500 cash bail each.

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Maine State Police Officer Suspended After Woman Reports Forced On-Duty Sex

MAINE – A longtime Maine State Police trooper is on administrative leave while the Attorney General’s Office investigates an accusation that he compelled a woman to have sex with him while he was on duty, police sources say.

The trooper says the sex was consensual, which would violate the department’s rules but not necessarily the law, the sources say.

The Department of Public Safety confirmed that a trooper is on administrative leave while being investigated for allegations of misconduct.

“An allegation was made against this trooper in early July. We referred it to the Maine Attorney General’s Office and we have fully cooperated with their investigation,” said the department’s spokesman, Steve McCausland.

He said it is standard procedure to put a trooper on leave with pay while an attorney general’s investigation is under way.

“We’re not getting into the details of what the allegation was,” McCausland said, including where the alleged incident occurred.

The Attorney General’s Office would not confirm or deny the investigation.

Sgt. Michael Edes, president of the Maine State Troopers Association, said he was aware of the probe but could not comment on an unresolved personnel matter.

“There is an ongoing investigation that’s now being handled by the AG’s office against one of the troopers and we’re waiting to see which way it goes,” Edes said.

The Portland Press Herald is not naming those involved in the case.

The newspaper does not name people accused of sexual assault until they are the subject of court action.

The newspaper also does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.

According to sources, the incident occurred in July as the trooper was taking the woman from York County to a homeless shelter in Portland.

The woman was not under arrest and was being transported voluntarily after an incident in York County.

The woman later contacted Portland police and made a complaint. Officers there referred the case to state authorities after determining that the alleged incident happened outside the city’s jurisdiction.

Portland police referred questions about the incident to state police or the Attorney General’s Office.

Cyndi Amato, executive director of Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine, said sexual involvement by an officer on duty is wrong — whether it’s legal or not.

“If someone is trusting their safety to police to transport them from one place to another, whether in custody or not, there’s that trust they are not going to cross a professional line to do anything to hurt the person,” said Amato, who was unaware of the case.

“At the very least, it’s a betrayal of trust. At the other end, it’s an abuse of power.”

An officer who engages in sexual conduct while on duty faces professional penalties, but whether such activity violates the law depends on the status of the sexual partner.

It is illegal for an officer to have sex with someone who is in police custody, even if force or the threat of force is not used, because the victim is in such a subordinate position that they lack the freedom to refuse or consent.

However, if a person who participates in a sexual act with an officer is not in custody and participates willingly, the case is not so clear-cut legally.

One recent case involving illegal conduct occurred when a Cumberland County corrections officer was arrested for having sex while on duty with an inmate who he said was his girlfriend.

The officer was fired, charged with sexual assault and sentenced to 60 days in jail in a plea agreement.

The Attorney General’s Office is designated as the investigating agency when the subject of a probe is employed by the state police.

“We have arrangements with most of the state law enforcement agencies to essentially do any investigation that may involve allegations of criminal conduct,” said Brian MacMaster, head of investigations for the attorney general.

The agency sometimes investigates non-state law enforcement officers who are involved in criminal conduct if it has enough manpower and another agency, such as a county sheriff’s department, is not able to do so, he said.

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Zoning Board Won’t Let Man Build On His Land – So He Opens A “Nature Park” For The Homeless

SKOWHEGAN, MAINE – Neighbors in a central Maine town are upset that a landowner who can’t build on his quarter-acre parcel has opened up his land as a “nature park” for the homeless.

An 84-year-old homeless man and his Rottweiler have set up camp on the property on Coburn Avenue in Skowhegan, a quiet residential street near downtown. A banner says, “Nature Park, Nature Trails for the Homeless People of Somerset County.”

Neighbors tell the Morning Sentinel the neighborhood is inappropriate for a homeless encampment. They say landowner Bruce Obert, of Norridgewock, is miffed that zoning laws bar him from building on the land.

Obert says since he can’t build, he decided to turn his property into a park for the homeless, complete with a picnic table and portable toilet.

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Former Top Maine Drug Prosecutor James M. Cameron Found Guilty Of 13 Counts Of Child Pornography

PORTLAND, MAINE - Three years ago, James M. Cameron held a position of power and trust as the top drug prosecutor for the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

His stunning fall from that post began in December 2007, when state and federal agents showed up at his Hallowell home with search warrants for the four computers inside.

The fall ended Monday, when a federal judge convicted Cameron on 13 of 15 counts of sending, receiving and possessing child pornography over the Internet.

Cameron, 48, showed no emotion as Judge John Woodcock Jr. read the verdicts that capped the six-day bench trial.

Cameron was handcuffed immediately and put into federal custody after the ruling. The former state prosecutor, who opted not to testify in his own defense, faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced later this year.

The Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit began investigating Cameron in 2007, after Yahoo reported finding child pornography in the photos of an account holder later identified as Cameron’s wife. The Yahoo reports were made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va., an organization that works with local, state and federal investigators.

Investigators ultimately tied 17 user profiles on Yahoo — many of which had sexually explicit names — to three Internet Protocol addresses assigned to computers at the Cameron household. Prosecutors used data from the computers, including log-in names and times, to determine that it was Cameron alone who was responsible for the illegal activity. Besides images of child pornography uploaded to Yahoo file servers, investigators found explicit images, e-mails, chats and other evidence on the four computers seized from Cameron’s home.

Cameron engaged in some of the illegal activity from his home computers on days when he was working, prosecutors said. His former secretary testified that Cameron was often away from his office, and those unexplained absences prompted a running joke at the Attorney General’s Office, in which someone would ask: “Where in the world is Jim Cameron?”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Clark referred to that joke several times during his closing argument Monday.

“Where in the world is Jim Cameron? We know the answer. He was at home, on his computer, trading child pornography,” Clark said.

Clark said Cameron had advanced computer knowledge, and he stored pornographic materials in photo folders on Yahoo, so that he could then delete the files from his home computers using a software program called Wash n’ Go. However, Cameron was apparently unaware that traces of the child pornography, including images and chats on the now-defunct service Google Hello, remained on the hard drives of the computers and were found by investigators, Clark said.

In his closing argument, defense attorney Michael A. Cunniff said the government failed to prove that it was Cameron who sent, received or possessed any illegal photographs or videos. Cunniff said if Cameron inadvertently received illegal images, he deleted them because he was not looking for child pornography. Erotic chat and fantasies are not crimes and are protected by the right to free speech, Cunniff said.

“If a person wants to collect child pornography, they save it. They don’t destroy it,” Cunniff said.

Cunniff also said the investigation of Cameron was flawed from the start because agents believed him to be guilty and they did not pursue any other possibilities, such as the theory that someone had pirated the open wireless signal at Cameron’s home. Cunniff noted that one state police detective used the term “stringing evidence around Jim Cameron’s neck.”

“No meaningful search for exculpatory evidence was made,” Cunniff told Woodcock.

A federal grand jury indicted Cameron in February 2009. He waived his right to a jury, putting his fate solely in the hands of Woodcock, the chief federal judge for the District of Maine.

Much of the testimony during the trial was slow going, as government lawyers and Cunniff argued about rules, procedural matters and the admissibility of almost every piece of evidence.

“The persistence and vigor that I displayed were manifestations of my respect for the law, not disrespect for the court,” Cunniff told Woodcock at the outset of his closing argument. Cunniff lodged repeated objections based on his argument that Yahoo does not have the right to browse through images posted by users in password-protected folders. Woodcock said the images qualify as business records and Yahoo has the right to inspect them.

Cameron is now divorced from his wife, but they have been working together to raise their 15-year-old autistic son, Cunniff said. Cameron had been free on $75,000 bail before Monday’s verdicts.

Woodcock found Cameron guilty on eight counts of sending, four counts of receiving and one count of possessing child pornography. The judge found Cameron not guilty on two counts of sending child pornography.

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Maine State Police Raid Charity Event, Seize Money They Raised To Feed The Poor

BUXTON, MAINE - Buxton police raided a building where people were trying to raise money to give free food to the needy.

It happened at the Narragansett Pythian Sisters Temple on Route 22 where people were playing the card game Texas Hold’em to benefit the Buxton Community Food Co-op.

But state police said the game was illegal.

That’s because whenever a gambling tournament is held to raise money for a group and takes place at its headquarters, a permit is needed and the co-op didn’t have one.

So, state police seized cards, poker chips and $500 in cash — money the food co-op desperately needed.

A member of the co-op, Joann Groder, said she is very, very sad about what happened.

“We’ve had a lot of people who come here — people who are out of work, people who have cancer. We have a lot of people,” said Groder.

But state police are standing by what was done.

“In this particular case they weren’t licensed, and they knew they weren’t and they knew they needed one,” said Lt. David Bowler of the Maine State Police.

The money from the co-op’s card game is currently being held as evidence while the investigation continues.

Groder now plans to hold a pot roast dinner to raise money for the co-op.

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Taxpayer Dollars Go Down The Drain As Dumbass Receptionist At Medical Center Confuses Bomb With Mom – Bonus: Brunswick Maine Has A Bomb Squad And Bomb Hunting Dog

BRUNSWICK, MAINE – A called-in bomb threat that caused the evacuation of Martin’s Point on Farley Road in Brunswick for a short time Wednesday turned out to be the wrong number.

Brunswick police Lt. Mark Waltz said Thursday that the entire incident started with a misplaced phone call.

Around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Waltz said, a receptionist at the Martin’s Point medical center picked up the phone and heard what she thought was: “There’s a bomb nearby.”

The report went to the police, who responded with a bomb-detecting dog and evacuated the building for 45 minutes. Nothing was found.

But as police investigated further, they learned that there was never any threat in the first place.

As it turns out, the call was placed by a girl who was trying to reach her mother at work but dialed the wrong number, Waltz said.

What she asked the receptionist was: “Is my mom nearby?”

The receptionist asked the girl to repeat herself. Again, the question “Is my MOM nearby?” was misheard.

After interviewing all the parties involved, Waltz said it was clear that once the girl realized she had the wrong number, she hung up. But the call led to the area being searched for a bomb.

Waltz said there was no wrongdoing involved, just a clear case of miscommunication.

“I guess the moral of this story is if you get a wrong number, stay on the line so you can offer the person on the other line more information,” he said.

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Taxpayer Dollars Go Down The Drain As Dumbass Receptionist At Medical Center Confuses Bomb With Mom – Bonus: Brunswick Maine Has A Bomb Squad And Bomb Hunting Dog

BRUNSWICK, MAINE – A called-in bomb threat that caused the evacuation of Martin’s Point on Farley Road in Brunswick for a short time Wednesday turned out to be the wrong number.

Brunswick police Lt. Mark Waltz said Thursday that the entire incident started with a misplaced phone call.

Around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Waltz said, a receptionist at the Martin’s Point medical center picked up the phone and heard what she thought was: “There’s a bomb nearby.”

The report went to the police, who responded with a bomb-detecting dog and evacuated the building for 45 minutes. Nothing was found.

But as police investigated further, they learned that there was never any threat in the first place.

As it turns out, the call was placed by a girl who was trying to reach her mother at work but dialed the wrong number, Waltz said.

What she asked the receptionist was: “Is my mom nearby?”

The receptionist asked the girl to repeat herself. Again, the question “Is my MOM nearby?” was misheard.

After interviewing all the parties involved, Waltz said it was clear that once the girl realized she had the wrong number, she hung up. But the call led to the area being searched for a bomb.

Waltz said there was no wrongdoing involved, just a clear case of miscommunication.

“I guess the moral of this story is if you get a wrong number, stay on the line so you can offer the person on the other line more information,” he said.

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Crazed Brewer Maine Police Lock Down School, Pull Guns, Harass And Search Innocent Man Collecting Sticks Along Roadway

BREWER, MAINE — Police responded in force to the area around the high school just before noon to search for a man with a “long gun,” and the school was locked down as a precaution.

It turns out the “long gun” was bunches of birch a 31-year-old Ellsworth man was collecting along Dirigo Drive to sell as decorations.

“Somebody said somebody had a gun and we had to take it seriously,” Superintendent Daniel Lee said. “As soon as it was clear that no one had a gun, we unlocked the school. The children were not in danger at any time.”

The man, who asked not to be identified, said police converged on him with their guns drawn.

“It was a little bit crazy,” he said a few minutes after police left, still visibly shaken by the incident. “They searched me and checked my record” before letting him continue with his work. “I have a clean record.”

Sgt. Arden Jones, of the Brewer Police Department, said officers searched the entire area to make sure the man they stopped was the person in question, even following footsteps in the snow.

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Crazed Brewer Maine Police Lock Down School, Pull Guns, Harass And Search Innocent Man Collecting Sticks Along Roadway

BREWER, MAINE — Police responded in force to the area around the high school just before noon to search for a man with a “long gun,” and the school was locked down as a precaution.

It turns out the “long gun” was bunches of birch a 31-year-old Ellsworth man was collecting along Dirigo Drive to sell as decorations.

“Somebody said somebody had a gun and we had to take it seriously,” Superintendent Daniel Lee said. “As soon as it was clear that no one had a gun, we unlocked the school. The children were not in danger at any time.”

The man, who asked not to be identified, said police converged on him with their guns drawn.

“It was a little bit crazy,” he said a few minutes after police left, still visibly shaken by the incident. “They searched me and checked my record” before letting him continue with his work. “I have a clean record.”

Sgt. Arden Jones, of the Brewer Police Department, said officers searched the entire area to make sure the man they stopped was the person in question, even following footsteps in the snow.

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