AUGUSTA - The case of William Walcott, a former Democratic state representative from Lewiston, will be referred to the state Attorney General's Office for possible criminal prosecution for misusing $4,874 in Clean Elections funds, the Maine ethics commission voted Friday.

Walcott's attorney, David Van Dyke of Lewiston, spoke on behalf of Walcott at Friday's meeting. He said Walcott admitted to misusing the funds, and will take full responsibility.

Ethics commission staff decided to audit Walcott after a 48-day delayed repayment of $1,940.56 in unspent money.

On Aug. 28, the day Walcott was to have provided proof of his expenditures, he held a meeting with Van Dyke and commission staff, where he admitted to fabricating $2,933.44 worth of reports, said Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the commission. All of the money has been paid back.

He did not spend any public funds on his election campaign, telling the commission that he believed his re-election was safe.

"When a person in a position of public trust misuses the public funds that they received for a particular purpose, files false reports with the state, the staff of the commission believes that there ought to be some kind of stern response from the state," Wayne said.

It is now up to the Attorney General's Office to decide if criminal action is appropriate.

The ethics commission voted to forgo any civil penalties until after the attorney general reaches a decision. Officials with the AG's office could not be reached for comment Friday.

Van Dyke told the commission that his client welcomed the referral.

"From the first minute Mr. Walcott came to me, he indicated that this matter was killing his conscience," Van Dyke said. "He wanted to come public with what had happened. He demanded that there be no defenses ... he demanded that there be no legalistic games played."

Walcott, who represented most of downtown Lewiston, resigned from the Legislature on Aug. 28, citing work constraints. His replacement will be decided in the Nov. 6 election.

Van Dyke said Walcott was in "difficult financial circumstances" and always planned to pay the money back.

The audit by the ethics commission, Van Dyke said, was practically a relief for Walcott.

"He indicated that he had been very burdened by this matter since he had made the submission to the state," Van Dyke said.

Wayne said that of the 621 Clean Elections candidates in the last two elections, officials only found six of them to be misusing public funds.

"The vast majority of them are very conscientious on how they use these funds, they care about their reputations ... they care about winning," Wayne said.