WILTON, Maine — Defense attorney Ron Hoffman, who lives in Sumner and practices law in Rumford, has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor terrorizing in connection with bomb threats called into the Cushing School and Academy Hill School in Wilton last March.
According to a press release from Wilton Police Chief Heidi Wilcox, the staff at the respective Wilton schools received the calls the morning of March 29, forcing the evacuation of 363 students, 146 of whom were between the ages of 3 and 7.
According to a Sun Journal report of the incident at the time, students at Academy Hill were transported to Cascade Brook School in Farmington while children at Cushing School were taken to Mallett School in Farmington where they remained for the remainder of that school day.
The bomb threats were made before 9:30 a.m. by someone using a blocked phone number. The incident prompted the schools to adopt a new policy not to accept any more blocked calls. If a caller blocks their phone number, a school employee will pick up the phone and immediately hang up.
Hoffman, 52, was admitted to the Maine Bar in 1997 after graduating from the Massachusetts School of Law. In addition to the Maine bar, he is a member of the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Bars, and is currently licensed to represent clients in federal court cases in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Hoffman has represented a number of high profile defendants over the years, including quadruple murderer Christian Nielsen of Newry in 2007. Last year, Hoffman represented Richard A. Moulton Jr., who is currently serving 40 years in prison for his role in the 2009 murders of Victor Reed Sheldon and Roger Leroy Day Jr. in Rumford and, in 2006, represented sex offender Steven Morton, who was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison for raping and assaulting a toddler in 2005.
Hoffman is the sole practitioner at his Congress Street law firm.
The Major Crimes Division of the Maine State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation assisted the Wilton Police Department in this investigation; the case will be prosecuted by the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office.
If convicted, Hoffman races up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine on each charge.
Let someone other than a lawyer do it and it would be multiple felonies let’s see, he was suffering from duress and made the calls as a part of his illness, go off for a month,all is good.
No, there are no felonies in Maine for making a bomb threat.
For what reason might he have committed this crime, if he did as charged? Does he have children who attend the schools in question?
For him to even be accepted into Law School he has to be smart. And to throw you’re career away on something like this. What is going thru these people’s minds?
Smart just because he was accepted at law school? No. It depends on the law school.
This is a weird crime. If he’s found guilty, I’m sure he’ll be sanctioned as a lawyer, maybe even disbarred.
I hope he gets disbarred 3 times over—-once for each state he’s licensed in.
If he were disbarred in Maine, he’d probably be reciprocally disbarred in the other states.
Ted Kozinski, the Unabomber, graduated from Harvard. Bill Clinton was smart when he oozed all over Monica Lewinski’s dress, that her Mother kept in storage all of those years. Bob Carlson of Bangor, who pretended to be a reverend all of those years he had sex with minor children, was obviously smart. SO WHAT DOES BEING SMART HAVE TO DO WITH A PERSON’S LIFE?
there is “way more” to this story than bdn has printed!!! if it is indeed true!! WHY
What a stupid thing to do! He had more to lose than his temper by blowing his top (pun intended) at the schools.
“Charged in connection” does not mean he himself did it. I think there is more to this story.
If convicted I hope he loses his license to practice law. Time for a job change….
“Hoffman has represented a number of high profile defendants over the years, including quadruple murderer Christian Nielsen of Newry in 2007. Last year, Hoffman represented Richard A. Moulton Jr., who is currently serving 40 years in prison for his role in the 2009 murders of Victor Reed Sheldon and Roger Leroy Day Jr. in Rumford and, in 2006, represented sex offender Steven Morton, who was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison for raping and assaulting a toddler in 2005.”
Hope he hires someone else to defend him!
“A man who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer.”
Abraham Lincoln
BEE-ZAR!
What is the motive ? What is the evidence ? Does he have an alibi ? I’m sure more to follow before court. The important part as I see it , is that calling in bomb threats, currently is not a felony and well should be. I hope that any legislative member that reads this, will immediately help draft a bill. In case , no one does, any reader should request it along with myself. The more, the better the chance.
“If convicted, Hoffman races up to 364 days in jail” – races up to?
Who wrote this, Scooby Doo?
This article is not very informative nor very well researched. It appears to be written and thrown out there for the public to guess at and draw conclusions based on very little information.
Guilty until proven innocent? I’m looking forward to hearing the whole story. Someone could have called from his phone. I hope this isn’t true because it would be a shame for someone who has so much to lose to do something so odd. I find it hard to believe.
All his high-profile clients are in jail? I guess he ain’t no Johnnie Cochran!