MACHIAS, Maine — Former Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith, now under indictment on theft charges, would face a revocation hearing on his certification as a police officer if he attempts to again work in Maine law enforcement.
Smith is no longer certified because he is not employed in law enforcement, according to John Rogers, director of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. The academy will not take action on certifications Smith earned in the past unless he tries to work in the field again.
“That would come to our attention,” Rogers said. “Once that happened, I’d have a conversation with the prospective employer.”
During that conversation, Rogers said the prospective employer would be informed not to hire Smith until he has dealt with the allegations through the academy, which oversees the certification of law enforcement and corrections officers. It averages about 50 certification hearings annually.
Per state statute, the academy would allow Smith — or any law enforcement or corrections officer in a similar situation — to present his case to an academy complaint committee, which then would make a recommendation to the full academy board.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the board could take a range of actions from revoking the person’s certificate to perhaps even dismissing the case, Rogers said.
When sheriffs get into legal trouble, it’s demoralizing for the rest of the sheriffs in Maine, according to Joel Merry, president of the Maine Sheriffs’ Association.
Calling Smith’s indictment “troubling,” Merry, current sheriff in Sagadahoc County, said the charges have caused law enforcement officials to feel a “sense of betrayal.”
“There’s a segment of our population … that will see this thing and will feel it’s just another example of a public official putting themselves above the law,” Merry said.
Merry said most sheriffs feel honored to be elected to serve and Smith’s indictment and other legal troubles do not represent the attitudes of the majority of them.
While no state agency or group could be found that tracks such cases, it appears Smith is the rare sheriff to run into legal trouble following their terms, according to BDN archives.
Two other former sheriffs have faced criminal charges in the last 25 years, including one of Smith’s predecessors in Washington County, according to the newspaper’s records.
Former Washington County Sheriff Joseph Tibbetts was sentenced in May 2011 to a $250 fine and 120 hours of community service after pleading guilty to a charge of threatening display of a dangerous weapon.
The charge had been significantly reduced from the original felony criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon that had been filed against Tibbetts when he allegedly held a family of four, including two children, at gunpoint while working security because he thought they were stealing blueberries from a field in Columbia in 2009.
In 1993, former Sagadahoc County Sheriff David Haggett was fined $2,000 and ordered to perform 75 hours of public service after admitting he borrowed money from a drug-forfeiture account for his personal use, according to BDN archives.
The complaint alleged Haggett took more than $9,500 from the account in the sheriff’s office, then repaid the money with interest. The money reportedly was withdrawn and returned between 1990 and 1992.
Haggett pleaded guilty to misuse of entrusted property. Besides the fine and public service, he received a suspended four-month jail term and one year of probation.
Smith lost his re-election bid to Barry Curtis in November, and his last day in office was Dec. 31, 2014.
Smith was indicted May 4 by a Washington County grand jury 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, for allegedly misusing over $11,000 funds from an inmate benefit account.
On May 7, Smith reached a deal on misdemeanor charges of harassment by telephone which stemmed from allegations he sent text messages Jan. 1 that were “offensively coarse or obscene” to two employees of the sheriff’s office.
Under the agreement reached with the district attorney, the harassment charges will be dismissed if Smith stays out of trouble for a year.
Smith still also faces misdemeanor charges of driving to endanger and reckless conduct in connection with a Jan. 6 incident in Lubec involving a woman he previously accused of assaulting him.