Sheriff still troubled by actions of local MDEA officer on DVD

"These people should be the best of the best, not the worst of the worst," says Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith, referring to a Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) officer, shown drinking and driving and committing other questionable acts on a recently surfaced DVD. "I worked in schools for four years, and I still go back to schools when I can. How do you explain this to a kid? When a kid says to you, 'Sheriff, you've told me not to drink and drive.' I don't know how to answer that. This cop was not held to the same standard as anyone else." Smith is scheduled to meet with Maine Public Safety Commissioner Anne Jordan on Friday, March 14, to further discuss his concerns.

Late last month, a DVD was delivered anonymously to the sheriff. "I didn't have time to watch it through at work, so I took it home and watched it from end to end," says Smith. "I wanted to make sure none of my guys were on it." They weren't. But a Pleasant Point police officer, working for the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, was. For Smith, the county sheriff since January 2007, that was a bit too close for comfort.

The DVD, obtained by The Quoddy Tides pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request, shows a Pleasant Point police officer, working for the MDEA, displaying his badge, drinking from a beer mug and driving his vehicle, while saying he is making a public service announcement. In other parts of the recording, the officer and others are seen firing a handgun near a house, exposing themselves, aiming what appears to be a paint ball gun at a sleeping child on the floor, riding on top and on the hood of a truck, and racing side by side on public roads. One of the participants on the video is a local resident recently convicted of possession of child pornography.

On February 20, after reviewing the tape, Smith announced that the Washington County Sheriff's Department would sever its relationship with the MDEA because he did not want his deputies harmed by their association with the MDEA agents. After talking with the commissioner on February 22, he rescinded his initial response. Still, he remains cautious of the two agencies' renewed relationship.

In a release, Public Safety Commissioner Anne Jordan said, "Although the antics on the DVD are juvenile, there is nothing criminal involved, and Deputy Attorney General [William] Stokes agrees. I have also checked with the district attorney for Washington County, Michael Povich, who told me he continues to support the work of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, its agent and its ongoing investigations." The release from Jordan and MDEA Director Roy McKinney goes on to say that the DVD is the same one that was addressed by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and the agent's home department in June 2006. "The agent, who was shown on a small portion of the tape, was disciplined at that time," the release states.

Sheriff Smith questions whether the discipline of the officer was sufficient or appropriate. "I have been told that he was sent back to [the] Pleasant Point [Police Department] for three days, and was paid time and a half for those days. I haven't been able to confirm that's what happened." Pleasant Point Police Chief Joseph Barnes could not be reached for comment.

"There were a whole bunch of things [on the DVD] that went on there that were inappropriate, if not criminal," according to Smith. He says that, if the officer was drinking, it doesn't matter how far he drove his vehicle. The law "says that if you have control of the vehicle, even if you are parked on private property," the operator is subject to driving under the influence laws. He also says that "there's a question of child endangerment, pointing a weapon at the girl sleeping on the floor." Children can be seen in a number of scenes in the video.

Smith's decision to temporarily sever the working relationship between his department and the MDEA was because of concerns about liability for the county and his officer. "People think the MDEA is a separate department, but that's not the case. Everyone is on loan," says Smith. "The only reason they can operate is because we provide officers for them. We are still responsible for those officers." Smith cites a case in Big Horn, Wyoming, where a federal agency borrowed local officers for an immigration case. When the federal case collapsed, the local department was sued because they had provided some of the officers. "I don't want my department, or Washington County, to wind up in court, sued, for something that my officers have nothing to do with." Smith also says the DVD has damaged drug prosecutions in Washington County. In a case involving a resident of Lubec, recently adjudicated, the officer involved with the DVD was not called to testify. "The officer's credibility is shot," says Smith.

A local attorney, Jeffrey Davidson of Cutler, says that the video may have affected the prosecution of one of his clients. "My client thought that the reason her place was searched was because this agent was looking for that video, not necessarily looking for narcotics, so she brought me the tape. She said, 'They [MDEA agents] just searched our house, and when they came in the door, they had a whole team and they spread out. This officer went straight to my videos next to the TV and rifled through them, and this is what I think he was looking for.'" Davidson said, "I never gave a copy [of the video] to the district attorney, but I made it clear this was a case better to be worked out. She gave her a deal, while the man in the case was sentenced to a year and a half." The attorney is troubled by the events because "this particular officer had an idea my client had the tape, and when the opportunity presented itself to search her home, he looked for it. It makes you question it [the search warrant]. Was there a CI [confidential informant] that reported this info to the officer or whether he made it up. This is an issue that, if we had gone to trial, we would have used."

Davidson also mentions a test that the officer gives to another person in the video. After flashing his MDEA badge to the camera, the officer can be heard laughing and saying, "Dude, ya didn't smoke, did ya?" "To me," says Davidson, "it sounded like ... he and his buddies were smoking weed together. MDEA agents smoking weed together is troublesome."

District Attorney Michael Povich was out of the office and unavailable for comment; he has previously claimed that the DVD has had no effect on any prosecution.

Smith says that he has been asked if he would make the issue public again, if he had it to do over. "Yes, I would do it again. There are a whole lot of issues here that need to be answered. Some people think I'm against fighting drugs, and that's the furthest from the truth. A lot of people assume he was caught on the video C he wasn't. He was performing for it."

The sheriff says he is pursuing the case because he has a responsibility to the citizens of Washington County. "I don't have the luxury of 150 miles of interstate between me and the people. The people call me and come into my office every day; they want answers and they want them now. I don't get the luxury to say, 'I'll get back to you in six months.'" He adds, "In fairness, Anne Jordan wasn't the commissioner then, and she has the reputation of being a pretty straight shooter. I'm hoping we can work this out."

Smith is concerned that there is a double-standard at work as well. "A man in this county lost his job and was prosecuted in superior court for attempting to destroy a political sign," he says, referring to then Washington County Deputy Jeffrey Bishop, who admitted throwing one of rival Rodney Merritt's signs into a river, after Bishop lost the primary election for sheriff. "Maybe he should have lost his job and gone to court. But, if you drink and drive and all the other things [on the DVD] and you are a cop, you're good to go. That doesn't wash with me. Michael Povich said [about the officer involved], 'He's one of the finest officers we have.' What does that say about the other officers?"

Former Washington County sheriff and current state Representative Joseph Tibbetts, said, "I wasn't aware of it [the DVD] at the time. The first I heard of it was through the media two weeks ago. I have not viewed the tape. I think that he was investigated by the Department of Public Safety or the Pleasant Point Police Department. I retired [as sheriff] a year and a half ago and am no longer involved in law enforcement other than with the legislature." Tibbetts, a member of the Criminal Justice Committee in the legislature, did not attend a meeting recently regarding the DVD. "At that meeting, there were about three to four people who attended. We were at recess at the time. The majority of us felt at that time -- the elected officials from the Justice Committee -- felt that it was not our charge to question the judgment and decisions of any sheriff of a county. Also, it wasn't our charge to question the Department of Public Safety on an issue that may have taken place in one of their agencies."

Smith also worries about the damage done to the image of Washington County and the state by the video. "When this came out [in the newspaper], my daughter in Boston asked me if I really didn't know about it. She said it was on YouTube and MySpace as 'My Favorite Summer, A Suicide Kings Production.' That's up there on the web, with a Maine state badge and all that behavior."