ALFRED, Maine — Former Ogunquit town manager Tom Fortier, who was charged with theft of town parking funds, reached an agreement with prosecutors to have the case against him dismissed.
A mistrial was declared in the case against Fortier in November 2017. He was charged in the summer of 2016 with allegedly charging for parking in a town lot on the Fourth of July and pocketing the money. Fortier faced two Class E misdemeanor charges alleging theft by unauthorized taking or transfer and official oppression related to the allegations.
After two days of testimony in York County Superior Court last fall, the case came down to whether the jury would believe two teenagers who both testified they charged money for parking at the lot, on the instruction of Fortier, or Fortier himself, who denied the truth of both charges. The jury came back deadlocked.
[Mistrial declared in case against former Ogunquit town manager]
According to the agreement in Superior Court, signed June 27, the case will be dismissed if Fortier completes 100 hours of community service work at a recognized nonprofit organization by April 2019. Terms of the agreement also state, “the defendant will not be alleged to have committed any violation of the laws of the state of Maine, federal laws, or the laws of any other state during the eight-month filing period.”
Violation of the conditions of the agreement, or the filing of any criminal charges against Fortier through April 2019, “may result in this case being restored to the docket for prosecution,” the agreement states.
Following the mistrial, Fortier said, “I don’t feel like I won. I feel like I lost a lot. There has been a character assassination of me for a year and a half. My wife, my kids and my mom and dad all had to hear this.”
Fortier resigned as town manager in February 2017.
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