PARIS – A Bryant Pond man filed suit in Oxford Superior Court suing Maine State Police and other Oxford County law enforcement agencies claiming wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

John Cox III was arrested on May 9, 2001, on charges of aggravated trafficking of schedule W drugs and furnishing schedule W drugs to a minor.

On June 20 the Oxford District Attorneys Office filed a no complaint memo, which dropped all charges.

Cox is claiming that because of the false imprisonment he suffered significant damages including damage to his reputation, loss of enjoyment of life, economic damages, emotional distress and pain and suffering.

Named in the complaint along with the Maine State Police are MSP trooper John Hainey, Norway Police Department, Oxford County Sheriff’s Department, the town of Norway, Oxford County and the Oxford County District Attorney’s Office.

Since the Oxford County District Attorney’s Office is named in the complaint, the Attorney General’s Office in Augusta is all legal aspects of the case.

William R. Fisher, assistant attorney general, said his office received a copy of the complaint on Wednesday.

“I’ve read it and I understand the general nature of allegations and the next step in the process is for me to conduct an investigation to determine if any allegations are true,” Fisher said. “I expect to have a pretty good idea of what happened and why in the next two weeks.

“The general practice of the Attorney General’s Office is that we will rectify it if we made a mistake,” he said. “If we haven’t, then we’ll defend it through trial.”

jsmedley@sunjournal.com