A Sanford city councilor charged with falsifying information to obtain public funds in a failed bid for the state Legislature pleaded not guilty Tuesday, and is scheduled to go on trial Aug. 15.
As expected, Victor DiGregorio entered the not guilty plea at Springvale District Court without making an appearance. His plea was filed via letter by his attorney, Gene Libby.
DiGregorio is charged with falsifying information to get Maine Clean Elections Act funding in connection with his November 2015 election campaign for Maine House District 19. He faces six counts of making an unsworn falsification and one count of attempted theft by deception.
The charges are Class D misdemeanors, each of which carry a maximum prison term of up to one year.
A dispositional conference is set for June 23. If no disposition of the charges takes place at that time or at a second conference, the case will go to trial.
According to the complaint filed by the Attorney General’s Office on Feb. 8, DiGregorio falsely affirmed in writing that he had collected $5 contributions from members of the community to qualify as a candidate in the House race, when, the charges allege, he had not.
The complaint also claims that DiGregorio attempted to collect Clean Election funds as a result of the alleged deception.
DiGregorio was an unenrolled candidate in a special election for House District 19, which became vacant upon the death of former Rep. Bill Noon. Republican Matthew Harrington won the race, narrowly defeating Noon’s widow, Jean, a Democrat. DiGregorio came in a distant third.
In an unrelated matter, last week DiGregorio was removed by Sanford Mayor Tom Cote from a city subcommittee for behavior in a recent meeting that resulted in a city employee filing a complaint.
DiGregorio was stripped of his membership on the zoning subcommittee by Cote for what the mayor called “belligerent behavior” that made the department head uncomfortable.