DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine — The former town manager of Milo and treasurer of Three Rivers Kiwanis of Milo and Brownville pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to stealing $45,000 from the club.
Jeff Gahagan, 57, pleaded guilty to Class B theft in Piscataquis County Superior Court.
He is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Gahagan’s sentence will be capped at nine months as part of a plea bargain, said Penobscot County Deputy District Attorney Michael Roberts.
Piscataquis County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy recused himself from the case because he said he has known Gahagan for years and is a member of the Kiwanis club.
Roberts said Gahagan has repaid the $45,000 but still may have to pay $6,000 in restitution.
Roberts said Gahagan had been taking money from the Kiwanis club for years but had always paid it back. That changed in 2007.
Gahagan stole the $45,000 from mid-2007 until the spring of this year, said Roberts. The prosecutor said much of the money was used for family purposes, but Gahagan spent $16,000 of it at what is now Hollywood Casino in Bangor.
“There were many debit card transactions not related to club purposes that were in the vicinity of $45,000,” said Roberts. “He got into a situation where he couldn’t repay it.”
The district attorney’s office recommended the nine-month sentence in order to keep Gahagan in county jail, instead of state prison.
“White collar crimes are hard because it’s a breach of trust to the organization,” Roberts said outside the courtroom. “Somebody like Mr. Gahagan, who is remorseful, really doesn’t belong in the Department of Corrections custody. Nine months is the longest sentence the court can give him to keep him in a county jail, away from the hardened criminals.”
Roberts said Gahagan has been cooperative with the district attorney’s office. He added that the reason for the delay in court proceedings was to verify the amount of money that was taken.
Gahagan resigned as Milo’s town manager on April 6, a day after resigning as the Kiwanis club treasurer, a position he held for 20 years.
Roberts said Kiwanis club president Jan Barton received a resignation letter from Gahagan in April that acknowledged the missing funds. That letter has not been made public.
Milo’s Board of Selectmen voted to give Gahagan $9,600 in severance pay on April 17. The board voted to hire former Belfast Town Manager David Maynard as Milo’s town manager earlier this month.
A Class B theft charge has no mandatory minimum sentence, but does carry a maximum sentence of 10 years and a $20,000 fine.
Gahagan was released on $1,000 unsecured bond. He is tentatively scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 25.
Many of these civic organizations have been run on trust for years and years. Any reputable accountant likes to see checks and balances similar to state and federal government-No one person can act alone. Most checks of any size should signed by two members or employees of a business or private organization. Compare this situation to locking your home when you go away. Locks keep honest people honest. Real crooks kick the door down.
This man was trusted and liked by many people-they made it easy for him to become dishonest when a few checks on him would have prevented the whole deal. There’s more of this out there-most will never come to light.
Exactly. They made it so easy – it’s THEIR fault, not his. HE is the victim here and should get a pat on the butt and an atta boy!
*rolls eyes* Are you for real?
He’s guilty as hell-no doubt. I’m simply saying that this is happening all over the place. Organizations need to take steps so that trusted individuals don’t take the park’s basketball and go home. Sorry you had to roll your eyes. Have good weekend.
It’s only Tuesday, bud. Have a good week. :)
LOL, I’m off work today for the rest of the week. Giddy I guess.
Weekend?
I’m off after today, so mine starts today….
This really isn’t much of a surprise. He was let go abruptly by Maine Savings, and there were questions asked about his hasty departure at the time he was hired as Town Manager. But, he was ram-rodded through by a former selectman with a “good ole boy” agenda.
So it was Kiwanis’s fault this guy is a thief? I don’t think so. This is a pattern of behavior for him. Ask Maine Savings.
So he spents 16K where. How many times have we heard that people stole money and spent it at Hollywood slots??.. If the State wasn’t in business with the slot companies, he might of had a chance of paying it back with winning there…
How many times do we hear that the lower forms of criminals get to decide how much time they will spend in prison… I guess White collar criminals aren’t a danger to the public.
You’re right. Common criminals don’t get to dictate what they serve. This guy was given a break, plain and simple. It’s not fair, but he’s been piped into the good old boy network for a long time around here. The only justice is he can’t do much about the felony charge.
Funny, no mention of people with callouses on their hands lamenting about Mr. Gaghagan having to do time in a real prison for STEALING. Only other suits with soft little girly hands.
Isn’t it common knowledge that in one afternoon you can double your money in a Maine casino? There is a class of people who would consider betting “borrowed” money in a Maine casino a very sound investment.
That must be the only reason we voted to let them in because everyone knows that a casino is a great tax burden to any town where they set up shop.
And nothing raises property taxes as it sucks money out of an area like a casino.
If you don’t believe this, talk with anyone who has lived next door to and worked in the famous Foxwoods for a few years. I have.
The humble Farmer
It is note worthy that you will not find a casino in a community that has confidence in its ability to provide its citizens, particularly it’s children, with an economic future not filled with minimum wage service jobs……
“He is remorseful yet he doesnt belong in Dept of Corrections”……hmmmm Where is the $45,000.00. I do not want my tax dollars to house him in DOC. He can use the $45,000.00 to pay for home confinement, learn a new trade, publically apologize and provide community service.
He repaid the $45k, have someone read it yo you…
My point is …he should pay for his own rehabilitation. He is capable of working. I can read. Paying the $45k back- thats the least he should do. As a public servant, he needs to go a step further.
A public hanging in the town square would be appropriate!
Well, the guy was probably going to run for a political office and he was just practicing
the skills of the craft.
He fully well understands that he will get a slap on the wrist and move on with a pocket full of cash. The judges and the District Attorney keep dishing out weak punishment and it keeps right on a hurting ,the trusting tax payers. Since the lady in Newburgh got the town for 1/2 million and only got 18 months with most of that at a half way house, all the others are trying or will be to get a piece of the action. It would of taken her a lifetime or more to get 500,000 but here she grabbed it and only had to give up 18 months and less than that sentence. What a deal……Our officials just don’t get it.
Did you read the article?
Roberts said Gahagan has repaid the $45,000 but still may have to pay $6,000 in restitution.
It makes me sick when they say he dosent deserve to be with criminals at the state prison…what he did is worse then breaking into somebodys home and stealing… he stole from people who had faith in his honesty and also it effected many hundreds of people who the kiwanis helps. he should by all means go to state prion just for the fact he IS A CRIMINAL.
You are absolutely correct! White collar thieves are treated much more softly than criminals whose theft is more “direct”. If this robbery had been committed by someone who non-violently stole from a bank, store, or home you can bet that they would have gotten a prison sentence.
Restitution has been paid in the amount of $45,000.00 so lets all jump on the jail, jail, and more jail bandwagon. He has paid the price for his conduct so lets just add $27,000.00 in incarceration costs to the State. I do not believe that many of you factor the cost of incarceration in your demand for jail of the nonviolent.
How is giving the money he stole back to Kiwanis “paying the price for his conduct?” Shouldn’t there be some sort of punishment for bad behavior? What about the additional $9,600 Milo’s asinine Selectmen let him take from the taxpayers? I’m sure that money was figured into his “restitution.” If jail is not answer, maybe a heavy financial penalty, i.e. a fine, would be the way to go. At least that might take away his ability to go to Fenway for the weekend. (True story, he was at the Red Sox game on Sunday.)
then blame the selectmen, they screwed Milo, not
Gahagan
Why not blame them all? It seems only right. :)
So he went to a red sox game, so what. Maybe his brother came down from Caribou and took him for a trip to get him away for a day. It doesn’t matter when the point of my post is that incarceration of the non violent is not what jails are for. The is exactly the type of situation where alternative sentancing should be used. Is it not better that room in a jail be used for the violent.
There are many law abiding, hard working people in Milo (from whom this man stole) who cannot afford a “day away” at Fenway.
Last time I checked, prisons are for criminals, and this man is most definitely a criminal. There is no stipulation that you have to be violent to go to prison. Ask Martha Stewart about that. At least a few years behind bars would, in theory, prevent this dirtbag from stealing from the less fortunate again.
A few years behind bars – so let’s add $72,000.oo to this case as the cost of incarceration in this matter. Certainly the conduct was wrong but not all offenses deserve jail time. Alternative sentances are available in matters such as this. Perhaps the state can let out a violent offender to make room for a nonviolent one. Would you rather have that or the use of alternative sentancing?
You’ve convinced me. I think he should have a big fat million dollar fine. An eye for an eye, right? He has sticky fingers, so let’s hit him in the pocket book.
On a serious note, I’d bet money on the fact that we (the taxpayers) will be supporting him for the rest of his life no matter what we do – whether he’s in jail or out. He certainly can’t get a job touching money after he was let go or had to resign in shame from the last two positions he’s had. My best guess is he’s already applied for disability to bridge the gap to his “retirement.” It just doesn’t pay to be honest. :(
Maybe we should let all those people out of jail like the Enron leaders and the Wall Street advisors who cheated people out of their life savings as they were non violent offenders but received years and I’m sure they are very sorry for what they did – – now
first it said he repaid the 45,000 then it said he got himself in a position where he couldn’t repay it. So, does that mean he couldn’t repay it until he got caught taking it?
It has been repaid since his resignation.
The reason you have a lot of white collar crime is the “good old boy syndrome”. This man is a thief and he should be treated just as if he held up a bank. We only know of the crimes he has confessed to but I bet there is more. Hollywood slots should never have been brought to Bangor because they don’t have the wealth to support a casino.
The country is run by “good ole boy” politics.
They should have been suspicious. He looks like Rev. Carlson.
I was going to say he looked more like a thumb…
Oh well he paid it back so it was justta small loan kindda like–whats the big deal! He feels bad about it geeeesh-leave him be….he’s prob only 1 of many that have done this or doing this as we read about it..cause he got caught.
Why does this article make it sound as if Roberts is minimizing the repeated and deliberate theft from a children’s charity? This was not money taken in a single moment of weakness; it was a deliberate and heartless pillaging of the children in an economically depressed community, and it went on for years. It is not just the value of the missing funds. This crime is far more vulgar. Milo is not a flourishing community. We will never know how many children’s lives could have been changed for the better over last 5 years had this money been spent as it was intended. I guess Gahagan felt the monies were better spent on his “family purposes” than on the betterment of the lives of disadvantaged children. I am ashamed and appalled by yet another example of Milo not defending our own children.
Jeff Gahagan was not “ram-rodded through” by any selectman past or present but I see the myth persists. The first decision to hire was made just before at least one selectman was elected. Since the new selectman would be working with the town manager and hadn’t had the opportunity to become knowledgeable about both final candidates that first vote was rescinded and later a second vote also resulted in Jeff being hired. In the years he was employed as Milo’s Town Manager the fund balance for the town, which had shrunk to under $50,000 was grown to over $500,000. He played a part in any number of improvements here being accomplished at minimal expense to Milo citizens. He seems to have had a knack for choosing good people to fill municipal positions and for gaining the cooperation of employees in making needed changes.
Rarely a person who has done a crime, and society, can be best served by a choice other than incarceration. I believe this to be one of those rare situations.
1) Monetary restitution has been or will be made in full. (This is different from the criminals who do not make restitution.) In that respect Kiwanis will be made whole again. They will not be whole in that Jeff will not be giving up his Saturdays to build another Kiwanis project like the gazebo in the park, or taking gifts to children at Christmas, or reading to children at the library, or helping with the annual auction, or cooking at the Senior Citizens barbeques, etc.
2) It’s no one’s business why or for what but I neither lie nor exaggerate in saying incarceration for Jeff will exceed the cost for the average inmate so cost is also one minor factor.
3) Taxpayers and all concerned have been spared the expense, etc. of a jury trial. Jeff owns, and has always owned, the responsibility for his actions. He, himself, hasn’t tried to absolve himself or place blame elsewhere. He has borne his personal shame – and will continue to do so. He isn’t the kind of person who takes lightly the pain his behavior has caused the family and friends he loves and who love him. It is possible to hate the deed but love the doer.
4) Jeff has skills that will will allow him to work in any number of positions. It is entirely possible and probable that he will be a worthwhile part of the community in the future. He can get from here to there more quickly without a jail term.
If this does not prove he is a “Good Ole Boy” then nothing will.
By the way, that first vote was technically illegal. If memory serves, the vote was ram-rodded so quickly the required notification was not posted far enough in advance. Be that as it may, if you believe the first vote was “rescinded” in some measured and responsible manner to let a new selectman become familiar with both candidates, you have been misguided.
This post leaves me thinking that people must lose common sense and decency when they lose their hair. There’s no other rational explanation for such nonsense.