PORTLAND, Maine — A lawsuit filed by a Standish man alleging that he was falsely arrested, maliciously prosecuted, defamed and denied due process by Waldoboro police has been moved by the town’s attorneys to U.S. District Court.
Scott M. Jordan Jr., 38, a corrections officer at the Cumberland County Jail, claimed in a complaint filed in November in Knox County Superior Court, that police incorrectly labeled his dealings with his now deceased father, who lived in Waldoboro, as “elder abuse.”
Jordan Jr. is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and a jury trial, according to court documents filed by his attorney, Karen Wolfram of Kennebunk. He sued the town, the police department, Police Chief William Labombarde and three officers.
Edward Benjamin, the Portland attorney representing the defendants, has denied Jordan Jr.’s allegations in his answer to the complaint.
Efforts to reach the attorneys Thursday were unsuccessful.
The dispute began in July 2014 when Scott M. Jordan Sr. told police that his son had taken the elder man’s truck and guns and refused to return them. The younger Jordan, who at the time had power of attorney for his father, was arrested and charged with Class B theft by misapplication of property and four counts of Class B theft by unauthorized taking in November 2014. The charges were dropped Sept. 12, 2015, two weeks after his father died at the age of 67.
Waldoboro police claimed that Jordan Jr. had sold thousands of dollars of his father’s property including items from Jordan Sr.’s antique shop on Old Route 1, according to the Lincoln County News. Police also alleged that Jordan Jr. had listed his father’s 2003 pickup truck for sale on Craigslist.
Jordan Jr. claimed in the complaint he was using his father’s truck, which was in better shape than his own, to go back and forth from Standish to Waldoboro to work on his father’s house to ready if for sale so Jordan Sr. could move in with Jordan Jr. The son also allegedly told police that he did not think his father should possess guns because he was mentally unstable and suicidal.
Waldoboro police ignored Jordan Jr.’s concerns for his father and instead arrested him, the complaint said. That caused Jordan Jr. to be placed on paid administrative leave from his job for about 11 months. Bail conditions also prevented him having contact with his father, the alleged victim in the case, so Jordan Jr. was unable to see his father during the final hours of his life.
Jordan Jr. claims to have suffered and continues to suffer physical, emotional, and mental injuries and damages, medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages and/or earnings opportunities and loss of enjoyment of life.