MACHIAS, Maine — An investigation into the possible illegal expenditures of funds from an inmate benefit account at the Washington County Jail simply followed the “money trail” to former sheriff Donnie Smith, according to Washington County District Attorney Matt Foster.
Smith was indicted Monday on charges of theft by unauthorized taking, theft by misapplication of funds, both Class B crimes, and misuse of entrusted property, a Class D crime.
“Instead of identifying one person, [investigator Margie Berkovich of the state attorney general’s office] reviewed all the financials and let the money trail lead her to a defendant — and she identified Sheriff Smith,” Foster said Tuesday.
The investigation, which Foster said began in 2013 while Smith was still in office, revealed $200,000 in expenditures were made from the inmate benefit account between 2007 and 2012.
Smith lost his re-election bid last fall to current Sheriff Barry Curtis.
A little more than $11,700 was identified as having been misappropriated, according to the prosecutor.
“We identified a lot more charges that were on the border and could have gone either way,” said Foster, who presented the evidence and obtained the indictment Monday from a Washington County grand jury. But, of the charges cited in the indictment, “there was really no question they were not designed to be for the benefit of inmates.”
These charges were for things like gift cards for corrections staff, charitable donations, Christmas gifts and uniforms, Foster said.
“They were expenditures specifically made by him. The checks were signed by him,” Foster said of Smith.
The prosecutor said the investigation report from the attorney general’s office fills two boxes.
A clerk at the Washington County Superior Court in Machias said Tuesday that Smith is scheduled to appear for an arraignment on the indictment charges on Monday, June 22.
Use of funds from the inmate benefit account at the 48-bed Washington County Jail has been under scrutiny for years. Funds from the account, which contains revenue from jail commissary sales and fees from telephone service for inmates, are to be used to directly benefit inmates and not for a jail’s operating budget or other purposes, according to state Department of Corrections jail standards.
Smith hired an attorney to investigate the account after he said he received a report from an administrative assistant in October 2012 about suspicious expenditures of inmate benefit funds.
Waterville attorney Peter Marchesi said in his 28-page report that his investigation could not justify the purchase of restaurant meals, a leather motorcycle jacket, dresses, jewelry and lingerie, among other items paid for with inmate funds.
Contacted Tuesday, Marchesi declined to comment, saying he needs to remain as neutral as possible, “given the possibility that I could potentially be called as a witness.”
In December 2012, Smith suspended Karina Richardson, the jail clerk, and Robert Gross, the jail administrator, and recommended to county commissioners that both be discharged for misuse of funds from the inmate account. Gross resigned not long after being suspended. The commissioners held a disciplinary hearing in January 2013 and approved Smith’s recommendation to fire Richardson. At about the same time, the commissioners also asked the state attorney general’s office to investigate jail operations and have been awaiting the results since.
Richardson took her case to the state Board of Arbitration and Conciliation, which ruled in October 2014 that she should not have been terminated, but rather only suspended without pay for six months. Richardson settled her case with the county in December 2014.
The settlement, in which the county denied any liability to Richardson, included $10,000 for wages, $34,500 for “non-wage compensatory damage for alleged emotional distress and mental anxiety and other non-wage damages,” and $10,500 in attorney’s fees for a total of $55,000.
The settlement also required Richardson resign her position and not seek any future employment or contract work with the county.
The county also agreed to provide Richardson with a neutral reference, according to the settlement.
Foster said Tuesday that Smith has not been arrested on the latest charges. A summons will be sent to his attorney, Don Brown of Brewer. Efforts to reach Brown on Monday and Tuesday were not successful.
Before Monday’s indictments, Smith already was facing four misdemeanor charges in Washington County for unrelated incidents. He faces charges of reckless conduct, driving to endanger and two counts of harassment by telephone or electronic communication device. Smith has requested a jury trial on the misdemeanor charges and was expected to have his case on the docket call scheduled for Thursday, May 7.
The misdemeanor charges stem from confrontations involving Smith in early January. One incident involved a series of text messages he had with Sheriff’s Department employees on and around Jan. 1, as he was leaving office, according to charging documents. The texts were “offensively coarse or obscene” and were sent without the consent of the recipients, the documents state.
Another involved Deborah Bousquet, a Lubec teacher who had a prior roadside confrontation with Smith in October, when they each went to Route 189 after a report of an incident on a school bus. In the prior incident, which resulted in Smith arresting Bousquet on assault charges, Bousquet and Smith each accused the other of aggravating the situation on the bus.
All charges against Bousquet stemming from the Oct. 8 incident later were dropped by Foster for lack of evidence. She since has notified Smith of her intent to file a civil lawsuit against him, alleging that with her arrest he falsely imprisoned her, assaulted her and used excessive force.
A subsequent alleged confrontation that Smith had with Bousquet on Jan. 6, after he left office, resulted in Smith being charged with reckless conduct and driving to endanger. Bousquet and Foster each have said that, in that incident, Smith was driving his truck in front of Bousquet’s vehicle on Route 189 in Lubec when he twice stopped abruptly, nearly causing a crash each time.
If convicted, the former sheriff faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $20,000 on each Class B theft charge. On the Class D crime, he would face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000 if convicted.
In addition to being incarcerated, Smith also could be ordered to pay restitution if found guilty of any of the charges.