AUBURN — An attorney for Androscoggin County grilled a former corrections worker in court Tuesday, claiming she jumped the gun in her whistle-blowing complaints.

On the second day of Lisa Levesque’s trial against the county, she sat on the witness stand in Androscoggin County Superior Court for hours parrying with Waterville attorney Peter Marchesi, who represented the county.

Levesque said she had been happy and felt secure from 2008 to the spring of 2009 working the day shift at Androscoggin County Jail. The officer who had been her supervisor and had harassed her had been suspended, then transferred to the night shift for two years.

But when Levesque found out in May 2009 that administrators were considering bringing Sgt. Kevin Harmon back on the day shift, Levesque said she was stunned.

She had met with an internal investigator in 2008 and had written a statement complaining about Harmon’s harassing treatment at the jail. She feared Harmon might retaliate against her if he were brought back to the day shift, she said. Levesque was working a day shift overseeing the inmates’ recreation time.

When she learned about Harmon’s possible shift change, Levesque met with senior staff members and expressed her opposition. The jail’s top supervisor told her she could transfer to a night shift or move on, she said. Her husband, Daniel Levesque, a sergeant at the jail, was at that meeting and corroborated her story during testimony that followed hers Tuesday.

She said her opposition to Harmon’s return to a day shift sparked retaliation by jail administrators over the following couple of months. It included several write-ups for minor infractions for which the jail had no prior strict protocols. She said it was retaliation when a lieutenant altered her performance evaluation after her supervisor had filled it out. She said it was retaliation when she was criticized for random things that other officers were allowed to continue doing, such as using her cellphone while guarding prisoners, parking in unmarked spaces and letting her vehicle inspection sticker expire.

But Marchesi pointed out that Levesque had worked at the jail for more than a year after blowing the whistle on Harmon without experiencing any problems.

He pointed out that she had written a letter to Sheriff Guy Desjardins shortly after learning about Harmon’s possible change back to a day shift. In that letter, she cited the state’s whistle-blower law, a possible lawsuit and a hostile work environment, Marchesi said, even though there had been no alleged acts of retaliation.

“Nothing had happened yet,” Levesque agreed.

“All of a sudden, out of the blue, they started retaliating against you?” he said.

“Yes,” she answered.

It was only after she wrote that letter that she began to experience what she complained were retaliatory measures, Marchesi said. He suggested she wrote the letter to intimidate the sheriff so that she could take the job Harmon was being considered for.

Levesque denied that was her motivation. She said she offered to assist in the job of classifications officer, but wasn’t even qualified to assume that role.

In Desjardins’ response to Levesque’s letter, he talked about a policy of “zero tolerance” for inappropriate behavior by any county worker, including administrators.

Levesque said she considered his letter retaliatory because he didn’t address her concerns regarding Harmon. She had learned through other channels that he wouldn’t be returning to a day shift.

Marchesi also questioned why Levesque had cited for the jury Monday a litany of Harmon’s inappropriate actions but hadn’t offered any of them when he interviewed her in preparation for trial. Marchesi asked her why she regarded her amended evaluation as retaliatory when the lieutenant’s changes gave her more of a bump than a knock.

Levesque’s husband, Daniel, works as a compliance officer at the jail. He said there was a clique of senior staff at the jail who had been friends with Harmon. His inappropriate behavior was well known by administrators, Levesque said.

“It was blatantly obvious,” but tolerated, he said. Some senior officers showed bias, he said. Several of them had boasted of having saved Harmon’s job by having him suspended and transferred rather than fired.

Levesque said he’s aware of officers who’ve since committed the same infractions that earned his wife a reprimand and weren’t punished.

In his 16 years working at the jail, he said he’s never seen an evaluation changed by a lieutenant.

Marchesi noted that Levesque stands to gain financially if his wife is successful in her lawsuit.

“I’ve lost more than I would gain in this, believe me. I know what they’ve done to my wife,” he said. “This is not made up stuff.”

The plaintiff is expected to rest her case on Wednesday.

Levesque is the second female corrections officer to sue the county. The first, Lisa Webster, settled her 3-year-old case in February. Another female former corrections worker’s lawsuit, filed on similar grounds, is pending.