LEWISTON — A former Lewiston police officer is scheduled to appear in court the end of November in Portland following his arrest last week on charges of violating probation and a protection from abuse order.

At his initial appearance on Friday, Timothy Darnell, 48, of Poland was ordered held without bail until his Tuesday probation violation hearing in Portland, a court clerk said.

He was transferred from Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn to Cumberland County Jail in Portland.

His hearing on a charge of violation of a protection from abuse order is scheduled to be held in 8th District Court in Lewiston on Dec. 5, a court clerk said. He was allowed bail on that charge.

Wayne Sturdivant, a field officer at the Division of Community Corrections, wrote in a motion last week that there was probable cause to believe that Darnell had violated the terms of his probation by having contact with his ex-girlfriend, Lorrie Champagne of Lewiston on “multiple occasions” and by failing to “satisfactorily participate” in a Certified Batterers’ Intervention Program.

A facilitator for that program notified Sturdivant that Darnell had been issued a “strong warning that his level of participation was unacceptable.”

In an email, Mary Campbell had written in September that Darnell had sat at the back of her class at the Pre-release Center at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland where he covered his face with a notebook the entire class.

He told her after the class that “he knew all there was to know about domestic violence from his years on the police force.”

After learning about the latest incident of Darnell violating terms of his probation, she expelled him from her class.

Darnell appeared in Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland in August where he pleaded no contest to two domestic violence misdemeanors involving his Champagne. He was sentenced to the time he’d already served in jail.

A judge sentenced him to 364 days on a count of domestic violence assault and a concurrent 364 days on a count of domestic violence criminal threatening. All of that jail time was suspended.

He also was sentenced to two years of probation starting in August at the time of sentencing. During probation, he was ordered to have no contact with Champagne. He also was ordered to complete counseling and treatment in a certified batterers’ intervention program.

Darnell was an 18-year veteran of the Lewiston Police Department.

Champagne told police last week in a written statement that Darnell contacted her minutes after leaving his course for batterers to alter he about a check for him that was being sent to her address. He also told her he had gotten a text from someone who sounded like one of her friends. He also raised his voice and reprimanded her for contacting his son to ask him to tell Darnell to stop contacting her. She had been hearing from Darnell “on and off” over the past few months, she wrote.

Darnell was arrested by Lewiston officers in July and charged with violating bail stemming from a charge of assaulting Champagne in the spring. He spent three weeks in jail after his bail had been revoked.

He was arrested in May, accused of assaulting Champagne on Free Street in Portland. He was arrested again the next morning, accused of returning to her home.

At that time, he had already surrendered his police badge and gun and had been placed on administrative leave. A short time later, he resigned.

[email protected]