County Attorney OUT! More Coruption ends.

BRENTWOOD – Rockingham County Attorney James Reams and his deputy Tom Reid were suspended from their offices as part of a joint state and federal probe looking into "managerial and operational" issues of their office. Reams has been the county attorney for 15 years. Attorney General Joe Foster and U.S. Attorney John Kacavas made a joint announcement about the unseating of Reams and his deputy during a press conference in Rockingham County Superior Court. Foster said a former employee made a complaint to his office, which set off the investigation. "The allegations were significant," Foster said. The interview with the former employee "led us to a number of other former employees we interviewed along with agents from the FBI," Foster said. "The interviews corroborated the allegations made by the initial complainant and raised other issues." Foster said the investigation led him to suspend the prosecutorial duties of Reams, who has held the post of county attorney since being first elected in 1998. Last night, county commissioners were informed about the investigation by the Attorney General's Office and agreed to place Reid an administrative leave. Foster said commissioners will be conducting their own investigation into the operations of the office. Senior assistant attorney general James Boffetti has been named interim county attorney while the investigation continues, according to Foster. FBI agents and investigators interviews of the staff and the assistant county attorneys at the office began this morning. "We are hopeful they will be completed in short order," Foster said. Kacavas said last week he received a request from Foster's office for assistance, and that his office has been working "shoulder to shoulder" with state investigators. He said the measures taken by the state were meant to maintain the integrity of the investigation, and that residents should be assured that the County Attorney's Office will continue its work during the probe. "This office remains open for business and the Rockingham County Attorney's Office will continue to function and administer criminal justice uninterrupted and unabated during pendency of this investigation," Kacavas said.

AG mishandled nude photo case

Anyone else see a pattern here? At least this case is playing out in public. How did they get away with having a personnel matter out in the open when our BOS will not ????

– Portsmouth Herald April 8, 2013, via the Nashua Telegraph

What kind of message is the New Hampshire attorney general’s office sending to police officers in the state by refusing to press charges against the New London police chief, who resigned after being accused of trying to coerce a female Colby-Sawyer student into giving him nude photos of herself in exchange for dropping underage drinking charges?

Here’s what the AG said in a press release sent out April 4:

“On March 6, 2013, a complaint was made with the Attorney General’s Office regarding then Chief (David) Seastrand’s interaction with an adult female who had been arrested a few days prior. The complainant reported that Seastrand indicated her charges would be dropped if she allowed him to take a series of nude photographs of her. Based on this complaint, a criminal investigation was initiated. Earlier today, pursuant to a negotiated disposition, Seastrand agreed to immediately resign as the chief of police and permanently relinquish his certification as a police officer. Given this resolution, the state’s investigation will be concluded and criminal charge(s) will not be brought in regard to Seastrand’s conduct on March 6, 2013.”

Reporting on the case, the Concord Monitor wrote: “Richard Lehmann, the woman’s lawyer, said the incident happened three days after she was charged with underage drinking and giving a false name to the police. Lehmann said Seastrand asked her to come to the police department, then harassed her for three hours. ‘There was an extended attempt to bargain away her criminal charges in exchange for her allowing herself to be photographed naked,’” Lehmann said. “’Obviously she refused.’”

These allegations suggest a deeply disturbing misuse of police authority by the former chief. If true (and why would the chief have resigned and relinquished his certification if they weren’t?), this is a classic case of a sexual predator using his position of power and authority to sexually exploit his vulnerable victim.

Allowing the chief to simply resign with all his pay, benefits and pension intact sends the not-so-subtle message to others in the state in positions of authority that they can get away with preying on the vulnerable, and even if they are caught, the worst they will get is a slap on the wrist.

It also sends the message to victims that the state does not stand behind them to the fullest extent of the law.

The Monitor reports Associate Attorney General Jane Young saying her office decided against bringing charges because the alleged victim and Seastrand were the only ones in the police station when the incident occurred.

Sadly, here at the Portsmouth Herald, we have had our own firsthand experience with the attorney general refusing to bring the full weight of its office to prosecute a police officer accused of sexually assaulting one of our reporters.

In that case, as in this one, the AG said it couldn’t do much because they viewed it as a case of “he said, she said,” even though their own investigating trooper reported five crimes had been committed.

What we say is that the victim deserves her day in court. If a victim is willing to pursue charges, the attorney general should be her advocate, not a deterrent throwing up hypothetical roadblocks about how difficult it will be to prosecute the case.

In the case in New London, as in our own experience, smart, strong women with legal representation were able to get some degree of justice, but not full justice.

And we can’t help but wonder how many women are out there who have been exploited or extorted and who are without the means to hire legal representation to fight back.

The attorney general needs to do a better job of standing up for victims of sexual assault and exploitation, and its role becomes even more important when the alleged abuser is a police officer empowered by the public’s trust.

– Portsmouth Herald April 8, 2013

What road building across a neighbor's land will get you in other Towns.

A subject we have all been following for several years now, still raises eyebrows and disbelief that anyone would do this BUT, here we go again....

Nashua Telegraph - Thursday, July 4, 2013

Hollis man charged with building road through neighbor’s yard

A little ad hoc roadwork paved a Hollis man’s way to an arrest this week after police charged him with building an illegal road through his neighbor’s property.

Hollis Police were called on June 17 by a resident of Truell Road reporting that his neighbor had trespassed on his property and that he had cut a road through some woods between the houses, removing numerous trees in the process, police said.

Police investigated and arrested Steve Ducharme, 40, of 58 Truell Road, on Tuesday.

Hollis Police Lt. Rich Mello said police never got a solid explanation as to why Ducharme wanted to build the road, which stretches a considerable distance from 58 Truell Road, through a wooded area and connects to a shared driveway at 66 Truell Road.

“It’s a driveway-width road. Unfortunately he did it across other people’s property. It’s quite a ways,” Mello said. “He couldn’t have in his wildest dreams thought it was OK.”

Ducharme is charged with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, and criminal trespass, a violation. Ducharme was released on $5,000 personal recognizance bail and will be arraigned at Nashua district court on July 24, police said.

– JOSEPH G. COTE

Plans for Atkinson Elderly Affairs coiming into place

June 12, 2013

By Alex Lippa alippa@eagletribune.com The Eagle Tribune Wed Jun 12, 2013, 12:30 AM EDT

ATKINSON — Just three months ago, many seniors voiced their concerns about the future of the Elderly Affairs Department.
Now, details are being ironed out about how it will function under new leadership.
Town Administrator Bill Innes presented a mission statement to selectmen last week that outlined goals and responsibilities of the department under his control.
“I’ve been really looking to have a definition of the department,” Innes said. “I want to put a foundation in place, but it is not my intent to dictate what the department would be.”
The department helps seniors with transportation to medical appointments and other needs. The town has $43,000 budgeted for the department this year. That money covers the salaries of the drivers, gasoline and maintenance.
Innes pointed to the need for a system that would allow the town to identify problems and evaluate all the funded programs to ensure they are effective.
“We are looking to just get a baseline from where the department can meet its needs,” he said.
Innes has served as the acting elderly affairs director since March, when former police Chief Phil Consentino was fired from the position. After Consentino was fired, Innes spoke about a desire to have the department be more transparent than in the past.
While the town is providing seniors with transportation services, Consentino continues to be available to any senior who needs his assistance, using money from a private charitable fund he presides over.
“Anything that doesn’t have anything to do with a ride, I’m here to help out with,” Consentino said last week. “I just helped a woman put a new heating system in her house.”
Innes said the town hopes to work with Consentino on things that can’t be covered by the town.
“I want to work collaboratively,” Innes said. “We’ve looked through assisted items which the town can contribute toward and items that the charitable trust and some other entities in town can do. I believe we worked out a process where we have defined what each will do.”
Innes declined to go into detail about which services will be provided by whom.
Innes has also defined the two ways which the department will be funded. There is the general fund which appears in the budget and is approved by voters at Town Meeting and a fund that accepts donations from residents and sponsors that is managed by the Trustees of the Trust Fund.
The next step for the town is to find someone to supervise the department. Innes has written a job desciption that has been approved by selectmen. The position is a volunteer position.
“I’d like to get it filled as soon as possible,” Innes said. “I’m not sure it will be a formal job search, but I want it to be filled quickly.”
So far, seniors who have worked with Innes on the advisory committee are pleased with the direction the department is taking.
“The process is going along well,” Alan Phair said. “I feel comfortable that we’ve done our due diligence to put in place something that will be workable.”
Ted Houlihan, a driver for the program, said things have worked out as well as he could have hoped.
“It’s different, but (Consentino) built a great system which is still working in the way we hoped it would,” he said. “There doesn’t seem to be a deficiency. Now the town is assuming control of that and that’s probably appropriate.”
Innes has laid out plans for several new programs, including a property tax burden program and a senior connection program that would use active seniors as volunteers to help seniors who need assistance.
One detail that still needs to be determined is the location of the department, which is now run out of the Atkinson police station.

ANOTHER troubled police department

Union Leader June 10, 2013

WEARE — This town's police department has seen its share of controversy over the last 15 years. Residents and town officials are hoping its troubles will soon be behind them.


"We have issues. There's no denying that," said Selectman Thomas Clow, chairman of the board. "But we have a core of fine young officers and now our job as a town is to build on that core and to find a chief who can provide leadership for these officers."

Police Chief Gregory Begin served his last day with the department last week, opting to retire before the last year of his three-year elected term.

Clow said Begin's decision to retire early was a personal one, and not a reflection of the fact that his second-in-command, Lt. James Carney, is on paid administrative leave. Carney is facing numerous allegations, including having an inappropriate relationship with a department employee, not enforcing the sexual harassment policy, transporting alcohol in a police vehicle, and having physical altercations with police officers and civilians, according to Carney's attorney, Tony Soltani, also a former Weare prosecutor.

Soltani said the sergeant is a victim of retaliation from the town because he is a whistleblower. He said Carney raised concerns about incidents of sexual harassment, abuse of authority by officers, the falsification of reports and perjury by other officers; none of the incidents were investigated because the selectmen barred Begin from doing so, Soltani said.

Since Begin's departure, the board has brought in former Keene police chief Art Walker to oversee the administrative functions of the department while a search for a new chief can be conducted.

A troubled tenure

Though Begin was re-elected twice, his tenure has not been without controversy. There are numerous state and federal lawsuits pending against the Weare Police Department.

Carla Gericke, Bill Alleman and George Hodgdon, all represented by a Concord law firm, are suing in federal court after being arrested for wiretapping after taping police traffic stops. The three cases allege state and federal constitutional violations, including unlawful search and seizure and violating freedom of speech and press rights, according to reports, and are still pending.

A lawsuit was also filed by Louis Chatel, a former sergeant for the Weare Police Department. Among several allegations, Chatel said Begin and Carney deliberately made false child pornography allegations against Chatel, who was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing by the Attorney General's Office. Chatel sued in federal court, claiming that his free speech rights had been violated; that case was dismissed. Chatel is moving forward with the suit in state court.

Begin also had his own brush with the law when a resident complained that during the elections in 2011, he had violated state election law by going into a restricted area and helping an elderly person get to the polls. The case, brought against Begin by the Attorney General's Office, was dismissed in Goffstown District Court.

Clow said the chief has left a legacy of an impressive roster of police officers, many of whom he hired.

"I hope things are going to be much better going forward," said resident Frank Campana. "They've never gone well and I've been here over 40 years and the problems always seemed to exist."

Rod Wilson, who's been in town since 1932, isn't happy with the police department, but he doesn't point the finger at Begin.

"I've never had too much of an issue with Greg," he said. "He seems to be a pretty decent guy, and he treats me well. But there's one particular officer that's been called on the carpet a few times and that may be where the problem is."

Wilson wouldn't name the officer.

 

Elected, appointed

Begin was elected to serve as police chief in 2005 to replace embattled Chief Myles Rigney, who chose not to run when townspeople decided to make the police chief an elected position.

Rigney, who was hired in 2000, was placed on paid administrative leave in 2004 after a secretary at the police department alleged that he had sexually harassed her. The secretary, Sherry Dunham, a former Union Leader correspondent, eventually settled with the town for $75,000 and withdrew her complaints against Rigney, according to reports.

But to some folks in town, Rigney was seen as butting heads with members of the police commission and board of selectmen, and a $15,000 raise over three years made him one of the highest-paid police chiefs in the area.

When a warrant article passed in 2004 making the chief's position elected and slashing the salary by nearly $20,000, Rigney declined to run. The following year, Begin won the position.

Last March, voters decided to return the position of police chief to an appointed one, a move that had long been supported by Begin, said Clow.

"This allows us to have the process that examines the qualifications of a potential chief," Clow said.

Wilson said he thinks the position should have remained an elected one, and pointed to the problems he said the town had with Rigney.

"With an appointed chief, you have a few selecting for the many," said Wilson. "I think it would be a good idea to elect him."

Early retirement

Before Rigney and Begin, Police Chief Edward Tuthill decided to retire after four years on the job in Weare following an investigation into charges that officers, including Carney, had been drinking on the job. Carney and the other officer admitted to drinking, but despite Tuthill's recommendation that Carney be terminated, the board kept him on and instead turned their focus on the police department policies, the reports stated.

Campana said he remembers those days well, and said that through the years, there's always been one officer involved with much of the controversy.

"Carney's got 20 years with the department, and though there have been many instances he's been in trouble, he always comes out with the proverbial smell of the rose," said Campana.

But Carney is just one member of what Campana said has been a "bit of a dysfunctional family" at the police department. He said he hopes with a change of leadership, the family will straighten itself out.

Hard on the Chief

NHINSIDER

http://www.nhinsider.com/ed-naile/

THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013 AT 05:40PM
The Town of Atkinson just can’t seem to let an old thug go into retirement. I am of course referring to the now former Police Chief Phil Consentino who ran an intimidation and political favor machine scam for decades.
It must be four years now since taxpayers came to CNHT for help with this guy.
We have had all kinds of lawsuits, controversies, meetings, letters and press in these four years and just when all is about to calm down, the selectmen fired Consentino back in March, here we go again.
The Atkinson Selectmen hired MRI, a municipal handyman group for lazy selectmen, and asked for a review of the police department. That is what everyone thought.
So when taxpayers wanted to see the completed MRI report the issue was handed to a law firm other than the town counsel of record.
They are paying a separate firm to deal with the MRI report?
What, the town counsel is chopped liver? Or is this the same old trick of hiring a separate firm so as to have “damages’ in case of a citizen action in court? They tried that on our CNHT activists.
Suddenly the MRI report is a non-public document because of personnel issues.
Could it be that the old saying, “once a thug always a thug,” has come to its logical end and there is a sexual harassment case against Atkinson?
That is what we hear, which means the chief could beat up on political opponents all he wanted and he had complete cowardly support from the Atkinson Selectmen, but a supposed sexual advance to some poor cutie at dispatch was a bridge too far?
News for the oppressed female!
The MRI report will be handed over to the NH AG’s white wash bucket where it will be determined that there “is not enough evidence to bring a case forward.”
Better get your own lawyer Ms. Municipal Employee.
Oh, and a much better idea than at last years Town Meeting in Atkinson where the selectmen wanted to start a capital reserve fund for legal fees, stop letting the chief get you in trouble.
Is it that hard to let go?
And I would like to see that MRI report, wouldn’t you?

All Hail Chief CAGGIANO!!!!

All it took was one good man in the PD and a few good Selectman, voila!! Police logs!!

Please visit at :
http://www.town-atkinsonnh.com/police.html

Logs from 2010 through the present have been posted and you can plainly see the old, unprofessional doctored reports vs. the new 2013 posts with addresses!!!

Thanks Chief Caggiano, for a job well done.