BANGOR, Maine — The attorney for former Waterville Senior High School Principal Don Reiter said Tuesday that his client will continue to fight allegations made against him by a female student.
Don Reiter was fired last month after accusations that he sought sex from the teen. Soon afterward, he was summoned on the misdemeanor charge of official oppression.
Official oppression is a Class E crime that carries a maximum jail sentence of six months and a $1,000 fine. It involves a public servant “acting with the intention to benefit himself or to harm another” committing an “unauthorized act which purports to be an act of his office,” according to state statute.
Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said Tuesday that Reiter is scheduled to enter a plea to a charge of official oppression on either the first or second Tuesday in February in Waterville District Court.
Reiter continues to maintain his innocence. His attorney, Walter McKee, said Reiter plans to plead not guilty to the misdemeanor and that he will request a jury trial.
“The facts are hotly disputed and the law doesn’t apply to this case,” McKee said Tuesday. “Sounds like a perfect recipe for a major battle.”
McKee also said that Reiter will not make his February court appearance in person but rather will enter his plea by mail.
According to previously published reports, Reiter is accused of asking a student at Waterville High School for sex at the beginning of the school year. He had been on administrative leave since Sept. 1, until the school board’s 6-1 vote on Nov. 16 to dismiss him.
“The crime of official oppression is an anti-corruption statute,” McKee said last month in an email in response to questions from the Bangor Daily News. “Trying to apply it here is a huge stretch, and I am being very generous.”
McKee has said that the Waterville student was the one to make advances toward Reiter.
Maloney said last month that the official oppression statute is “important” and meant to hold public officials accountable for their actions. She said she didn’t charge Reiter with attempted gross sexual assault because the victim was 18 years old.
More accusations arose out of a New Hampshire high school last month, while Waterville school officials were weighing what action to take about the situation.
A former student at a New Hampshire high school that employed Reiter approached a city police detective and told him Reiter had engaged in inappropriate behavior with some of her friends.
Maloney said officials in New Hampshire are investigating multiple accusations against Reiter.
Bangor Daily News writer Nick McCrea contributed to this report.