MACHIAS, Maine — Donnie Smith, who until the end of December was the sheriff of Washington County, is facing four criminal charges stemming from two separate incidents last month, according to documents filed in the court clerk’s office in Machias.
Smith, 62, has been charged with two counts of harassment by telephone or electronic communication device, the documents indicate. The former sheriff is accused of communicating electronically with two members of the sheriff’s department staff in an “offensively coarse or obscene” way without their consent. The communication occurred on Jan. 1, the first day after Smith left office as sheriff, according to the documents.
Smith also has been charged with reckless conduct and driving to endanger in connection with a Jan. 6 incident in Lubec, the documents indicate. In that case, police allege that the former sheriff “did recklessly create a substantial risk of serious bodily injury” to another driver and that he “did, with criminal negligence, drive a vehicle … in a manner that endangered the property of another or a person, including the operator or passenger in the motor vehicle being driven.”
The documents indicate Smith has pleaded innocent to all charges.
Attempts Wednesday to contact Smith’s attorney, Don Brown of Brewer, were unsuccessful. Contact information for Smith was not available.
The Jan. 6 incident, which occurred on Route 189 in Lubec, involved a Lubec woman whom Smith had accused of assaulting him during an incident last fall, when he was still sheriff. In that prior incident, Smith and Deborah Bousquet went to find a school bus that had stopped by the side of the road after the bus driver radioed for help with what he said was a fight on the bus.
Bousquet, who had a child on the bus, and Smith allegedly got into a physical confrontation by the roadside next to the stopped bus. Smith said she hit him and arrested Bousquet at the scene. Charges of disorderly conduct and obstruction of government administration against Bousquet later were dismissed by prosecutors for lack of evidence. Bousquet said that the accusation was false and that Smith had been the aggressor in the roadside confrontation.
Bousquet later notified Smith that she intended to file a civil lawsuit against him, alleging false arrest and imprisonment. No civil suit had been filed with the court as of Wednesday, according to staff at the court clerk’s office.
Attempts Wednesday to contact Bousquet’s attorney, Jeff Davidson of Machias, were unsuccessful.
Matthew Foster, the new district attorney for Washington County, confirmed last week that charges against Smith were pending and that the Jan. 6 incident involved Bousquet. According to Foster, Smith was driving his Toyota pickup truck on Route 189 when he allegedly realized Bousquet was driving her car behind him and he slammed on his brakes, nearly causing her vehicle to rear-end his. Two other vehicles behind Bousquet also nearly got in a chain-reaction collision, but none of the vehicles ended up striking each other, Foster said.
The vehicles resumed traveling along the road and, when Bousquet went to turn into the entrance of the local elementary school, Smith allegedly slammed on his brakes a second time, again nearly causing a rear-end collision, according to the prosecutor. Bousquet told police that she stopped suddenly enough that her dog flew forward and struck the windshield of her car, Foster said.
After the second-near accident, Smith got out of his vehicle and approached Bousquet’s car, the prosecutor said.
“He tried to open [her] car door,” Foster said, but Bousquet managed to lock it before he could grab the handle.
The harassment charges stem from text messages Smith exchanged with some former co-workers during the transition of his leaving office and Sheriff Barry Curtis moving into the position, the prosecutor said.
Late on Dec. 31, Smith exchanged text messages with members of the sheriff’s department staff and then continued to exchange more texts with them through Jan. 1 until just after midnight, a few minutes into Jan. 2., according to Foster. He said the messages Smith sent were “rude and abusive,” and so constitute harassment under state law.
Smith is due to appear in court in Machias on all four charges on March 3.
The reckless conduct charge is a Class D misdemeanor, while the harassment charges and the driving to endanger charge are Class E misdemeanors. Convictions for Class D crimes in Maine carry a maximum possible penalty of 364 days in jail and a fine of $2,000, while convictions on Class E crimes are punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Attempts Wednesday to obtain police reports on the incidents from the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, which investigated both cases, were unsuccessful. Michael Crabtree, chief deputy for the department, said Wednesday that he and Sheriff Barry Curtis, who defeated Smith in last November’s election by more than 2,000 votes, declined to comment on the matter.
