Oxford County commissioners to continue discussing sheriff’s future

PARIS — Oxford County commissioners met behind closed doors for nearly two hours Tuesday with their attorney discussing the fate of embattled Sheriff Christopher Wainwright.

No decisions were made.

Commissioners came out of executive session and immediately adjourned the meeting. Afterward, attorney Amy Dieterich of the law firm Skelton Taintor and Abbott of Lewiston gave a brief statement.

“The commissioners are undertaking a thorough and careful review of the facts, and we anticipate scheduling a special meeting to continue this discussion of the issues pending before the commissioners very soon,” Dieterich said.

Wainwright was not at Tuesday’s meeting. County Administrator Donald Durrah said his absence was due to other meetings he had to attend.

Wainwright has come under fire for two more incidents that have come to light since being admonished by commissioners in May for trying to help an acquaintance with a traffic citation and then getting angry at the deputy who reported his actions to a supervisor. He also overstepped his authority by overstating his role in the county during the incident.

At the time, the county commission rebuked Wainwright for his actions. Calling it “a close call” and saying commissioners had “no good choices,” they said it would be less disruptive to keep Wainwright on a short rope, rather than asking the governor to remove him from office.

In their May statement, Commissioners Steven Merrill, Timothy Turner and David Duguay said another incident would result in sending such a request to Mills.

“He needs to gain a clearer perspective on workplace dynamics and set his pride aside so that he can regain the trust of the employees of his office,” commissioners said in a statement then. “Based on our conversation in executive session this morning, we believe that he is capable of doing that. Until he proves us wrong, the commissioners reserve their right to send a complaint to the governor regarding these events. In the event that the sheriff falls short of his commitments, or engages in further conduct unbefitting of his office, the county commissioners will promptly revisit this matter.”

But a few weeks later, it was revealed that two school resource officers hired for Sacopee Valley Middle School in Hiram and Buckfield Junior-Senior High School were not certified as law enforcement officers. Their police certification had lapsed after they retired as police officers.

While the original appointment was made by previous Sheriff James Theriault in 2018, Wainwright continued to renew the contracts with the two school systems. Despite not being certified, both officers were issued guns and a badge.

That incident is reportedly being investigated by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. Wainwright’s lawyer, Jonathan Berry, who was hired by Durrah, after consulting with the county’s legal team, to represent the sheriff in this case, has called the probe an administrative matter and, as of now, not disciplinary.

A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Wainwright had sold dozens of firearms from the county’s evidence room without the knowledge of county officials and outside the financial scrutiny of those officials in 2020 and 2021. The guns were sold on credit to J.T. Reid’s Gun Shop in Auburn, allowing the sheriff to purchase firearms for the county without a paper trail.

The Oxford County Administrator’s Office has no record of the sales, County Administrator Donald Durrah said.

Commissioners have since changed the purchasing policy to prevent such a transaction from happening again.

Earlier in Tuesday’s commission meeting, during the public portion, Joan Kelly of Hartford, who is suing Wainwright, claiming she was forced to resign for speaking out about unfair worker treatment, asked the commission what action they were taking against the sheriff for the latest revelations.

“That’s what we are going to be doing at the meeting later today, having discussions on those topics,” Chairman Steven Merrill said.

She asked about the training courses the sheriff was supposed to take following the initial incident in early May, which were supposed to help him with his management and supervisory duties.

“Right now, we are assessing his needs,” Durrah said. “I want to make sure we send him to the appropriate classes, not just to throw some classes at him. He and I are in the process of looking at what these meetings are.”

“He has agreed to go,” Durrah said. “We want to make sure it will be a benefit to him and is also going to be a benefit to our organization.”