AUBURN — A highly regarded officer whose job was to ensure that the Androscoggin County Jail complied with rules and regulations has been demoted for breaking the rules.
Daniel Levesque, who was the jail’s compliance officer, was disciplined and reassigned for viewing “inappropriate content” on his work computer.
According to a request for disciplinary action sent from Androscoggin County Sheriff Guy Desjardins to the three county commissioners in June, a full forensic review of Levesque’s computer revealed activities that were legal but “most inappropriate in nature and in direct violation of our Computer Use Policy.”
That policy states that “users must not intentionally seek or provide information to any site or organization that promotes violence or hate, that discriminates against any protected group or organization, or that displays inappropriate content.”
Citing the incident as a confidential personnel matter, Desjardins declined to say what Levesque accessed on his computer, but the sheriff classified it as “totally inappropriate … usage of the Internet.”
It was unclear when Levesque started viewing that content, though the letter from Desjardins to the commissioners advised that Levesque “admitted it was within the last six months.”
With the approval of the county commissioners, Levesque was demoted at the end of June from sergeant to corrections officer and removed as the jail’s compliance officer. That demotion included a $2 an hour pay cut. He was also placed on probation for 90 days, with required evaluations by his supervisor every 30 days.
Levesque declined to comment for this story.
As a compliance officer, he was responsible for making sure the jail adhered to state regulations and internal policies and procedures. Last September, Desjardins and Jail Administrator John Lebel credited Levesque for helping the jail earn a near-perfect score on its state inspection.
“It’s an extremely important position,” Desjardins said Tuesday. “The last couple of jail inspections, the reason that we got the grades that we got was because of our compliance officer. That’s what made this so difficult.”
The jail has since installed safeguards on its computer system to limit and control employees’ Internet access. Desjardins estimated that system cost $1,500 to $1,600.
Levesque is the husband of Lisa Levesque, one of three former corrections officers who claimed they suffered harassment at the hands of a supervisor at the jail. Lisa Levesque unsuccessfully sued the county last fall, alleging that Desjardins and his second-in-command at the jail retaliated against her because she complained about a plan to move that supervisor to a day shift. Daniel Levesque testified on his wife’s behalf.
Man, those rule breakers just get on my nerves, I mean, no one in his/her right mind break rules right? Big brother is watching, you people out there who have nothing to do but catch these rule breakers should be proud of yourself, you can thank the sheriff for his diligence, now he can go on to spy on his other minions, after all, he has never been caught doing any wrong, so he can be as righteous as he wishes. The commissioners need to hire someone to try and catch these bad people, then get their neighbors to agree to watch them…….Oh, thats an old story from the late 30’s and early 40’s…….sorry to suggest an old regimes tactics.
Probably looking at Uncle Henrys………or maybe another job. He might have been looking at anti-government literature. Oh no, I’m responding to this post at work. My name might get in the paper.
Define irony…
Hmmmmm…..a compliance officer not complying with office policy……
Where can I get one of these surf the net jobs?
I really don’t know what to think of this. Could it be a payback? Did he do it? Is the jail staff so untrustworthy that their computer system has to have safeguards to limit control of the employees computer access? With only half the story one must take a wait and see attitude.
DID NOT COMPLY
Can you say that they have just been waiting to catch him or make it look like he has been doing something wrong!! Why don’t they go and check everyone elses pc’s while they are at it? Also go check the pc’s of the police officers in the patrol cars and demote anyone that has been useing them for anything non police related.
They just wanted to retalate against this officer!!
naked pictures of someone
It’s sad that all you get for being a Sergeant AND the compliance officer for the jail is an extra $2 an hour
He is serving the public and the public should know what he was viewing as the public paid for the computer. Come on, let’s be transparent as we should be. If it isn’t anything really bad, he should of got a first warning especially if he was such a good employee. If its really bad like kids than he should be fired, If its just with the ladies, a warning should be enough. Give him a chance to redeem himself. Common sense goes a long way……
You mean like if you got popped for jaywalking and they published it in the BDN? Different set of laws for the law mi amigo.
He should have went with SFW instead of the real thing. Poor cops are getting smarter and smarter these days.
He should pay back the time he stole from taxpayers. If they know the sites he visited, they also know the amount of time he spent on them. Kinda ironic a thief guards thieves. What a strange time we live in.
Guess he better up his cell phone plan to have internet so he can continue to look at whatever he wants! Naughty boy!