OLD TOWN, Maine — A detective honored as a hero last year is no longer employed by the police department, and the chief is not commenting on the circumstances surrounding his departure.
Old Town police Chief Scott Wilcox confirmed the employment of Detective Jamie Slauenwhite ended Monday.
“I can’t release anything. It’s a personnel issue,” Wilcox said Thursday morning. “I can tell you he is no longer with the department.”
Slauenwhite declined to comment on the situation when reached by text message.
Slauenwhite had been employed by the department since 2007 and received training in evidence recovery and processing, advanced photography and drug investigations, according to a cached version of the Old Town Police Department website. Slauenwhite’s information no longer appears on the site.
He is the second member of the department to leave in recent months. Sgt. Mike Hashey resigned in April and is under investigation in connection with a reported theft from the department’s evidence room, Wilcox said in June.
The Waldo County District Attorney’s Office is handling the investigation and prosecution because the Penobscot County District Attorney had a conflict of interest, the police chief said.
Waldo County Assistant District Attorney Bill Entwisle is in charge of the case and said Thursday that investigators are close to wrapping up their investigation.
“The investigation is probably 99 percent done,” Entwisle said. “We’re waiting to get the last piece. We’re optimistic we’ll be able to get to a resolution fairly quickly.”
The Pine Tree Chapter of the American Red Cross honored Hashey and Slauenwhite in 2014 with Real Hero Awards.
They were on duty when an Old Town man fatally stabbed his pregnant girlfriend, sparking a police standoff at his downtown apartment in 2013. Inside the apartment at the time were the couple’s two young children, ages 2 and 4.
Hashey convinced the man to let the children leave, now retired Capt. Kyle Smart said at the time. Slauenwhite “was the one who carried both of those kids out of there,” Hashey said at the time.
The standoff ended when a Maine State Police officer shot and killed the man.