Jury awards ex-Maine trooper $300,000 in whistleblower case

BANGOR, Maine — A jury in Maine awarded a now-retired state trooper $300,000 Friday after discovering that the state police retaliated in opposition to him when he raised issues in regards to the company’s intelligence gathering work.

George Loder, 53, filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that he was unfairly punished after he went to his superiors with issues a few state police division that was gathering intelligence on individuals together with energy line protesters, gun patrons and staff at a camp for Israeli and Arab teenagers.

Loder claimed within the swimsuit that after he spoke up, he was reassigned to a desk job two hours from his house after which improperly denied a switch. He has since retired.

In his swimsuit, Loder raised issues about knowledge gathering by the Maine Intelligence Evaluation Middle, which shares info it collects with different regulation enforcement companies. The lawsuit prompted questions in regards to the heart’s work and a legislative effort to get rid of it.

The Bangor Every day Information reported {that a} jury deliberated for greater than 5 hours earlier than discovering that the company had violated the state whistleblower safety act.

The state police have defended the info gathering and intelligence work and denied that any retaliation occurred.