FARMINGTON – A former cop was back in jail Friday after pleading guilty to molesting a young girl almost daily for several years.

Peter Buzzell, 49, of Farmington was indicted by a Franklin County grand jury earlier this year on 10 counts of unlawful sexual contact with a girl under age 14.

In a plea agreement, Buzzell admitted to five counts Friday morning in Franklin County Superior Court.

From 1990 through 1996, Buzzell would sexually molest the girl five or six days a week, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson.

Before the incidents began, Buzzell was a Farmington police officer and worked for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department as a part-time deputy. However, about the time the contact began, he became sick and was collecting disability, Robinson said.

According to defense attorney Kevin Joyce, Buzzell has lesions on and in his brain and has been seeking treatment from a clinic in Massachusetts since 1991. He also has a seizure disorder and recently began taking anxiety medication and is going to weekly counseling sessions.

The unlawful contact was reported late last year after the victim admitted to counselors that she had been molested as a child.

Buzzell was arrested and the case was handled by Detective Mark Lopez of the Maine State Police.

Despite a request from Joyce that his client be released on bail so he could tend to his medical problems, the state held strong that Buzzell was a danger to the community.

“My concern is that he is a risk,” said Justice Joseph Jabar, who sided with the state and ordered Buzzell to be put in jail until his sentencing. “He is an untreated sex offender who is facing some serious time.”

If he receives the maximum sentence, Buzzell could be behind bars for 25 years.

Robinson said he expects the sentencing to come in mid-November after an evaluation to assess Buzzell’s threat to the community and his impact on the victim, among other things.

Jabar did note that in the event of a medical emergency, a bail hearing could be requested by the defense.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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