Maine
Maine prosecutor was the subject of a sexual abuse investigation and then lied about it
The person working for reelection as the highest prosecutor for Hancock and Washington counties was criminally investigated in 2017 and 2018 for allegedly sexually abusing a baby, after which he lied concerning the investigation at a latest public discussion board.
Matthew Foster, a Republican working for a 3rd time period as district lawyer, was requested throughout an Oct. 12 candidates discussion board whether or not he had ever been criminally investigated by the Maine lawyer basic’s workplace since turning into an lawyer.
He answered, “No.”
However in October 2017, Kathleen Hinerman, who briefly lived with Foster in Ellsworth as a baby, reported to the Maine State Police that Foster had touched her in an inappropriately sexual method on a number of occassions when she was 13, she stated.
The Workplace of the Maine Legal professional Normal, the regulation enforcement company that investigates public officers, took over the case and finally determined to not press costs.
Hinerman has stood by the allegations. Along with police, she advised others lately concerning the alleged abuse, together with relations, legal professionals, a therapist and a personal investigator. Her descriptions of what occurred have been constant in her interviews with the Bangor Day by day Information and data of previous conversations.
Hinerman determined to come back ahead publicly after Foster denied the investigation at a candidate’s discussion board, which was hosted and dwell streamed by the League of Ladies Voters of Maine and native Hancock County newspapers.
“I feel he ought to be held accountable, and I feel the general public ought to know who they’ve as their DA,” Hinerman stated. “He’s not the person he portrays himself to be.”
She submitted a grievance to the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar, which governs the conduct of Maine legal professionals and might self-discipline them for dishonesty, final month after listening to Foster’s feedback on the discussion board.
Foster, who was first elected in 2014, declined to touch upon the sexual abuse allegations when reached by cellphone Thursday morning.
As for his reply on the discussion board, Foster stated it’s in opposition to the regulation to launch investigative data and, as a member of a felony justice company, he believed “the query was requested to get me to commit a criminal offense of releasing that data or need to deny it.”
When requested if denying an investigation constituted a solution in itself, he stated, “I suppose it’s.”
In a while Thursday, his lawyer, Walt Mckee, stated Foster was caught off guard on the discussion board.
“Clearly the higher reply would have been to say he may neither verify nor deny that he had ever been investigated, and that may have been a permissible response underneath outdated Maine regulation, however the statute that allowed that was repealed in 2021 with no alternative. He was in an unimaginable place,” McKee stated.
McKee known as Hinerman’s allegations “baseless.” Foster cooperated absolutely with police throughout the investigation, and the matter was closed after he handed two separate lie detector checks, he stated.
“It’s dumbfounding to see this sort of assault come in opposition to Matt, who was completely cleared of any wrongdoing, one thing this complainant is aware of full nicely. It’s clearly an effort to smear Matt,” McKee stated.
Hinerman, now 25 and a nurse in Bangor, met Foster when she was a child as a result of he dated her aunt after which represented her mom in a matter associated to her mother and father’ divorce. The alleged abuse happened throughout a interval of six to eight months when Foster allowed Hinerman and her mom to dwell with him in his Ellsworth house in late 2009 and 2010, she stated. The household’s rental house had fallen into disrepair, they usually had wanted a spot to remain. Hinerman had simply turned 13.
Foster confirmed that he allowed them to dwell with him in a written response to a grievance that Darrel Hinerman, Kathleen Hinerman’s father, submitted in 2009 to the board of overseers. Darrel Hinerman, a former reserve officer for the Machias Police Division, had alleged it was improper for Foster to let a shopper dwell with him.
Foster denied any impropriety in his response, a duplicate of which Darrel Hinerman acquired and supplied to the BDN. Foster was not disciplined and has by no means been disciplined by the board of overseers.
Kathleen Hinerman stated Foster made her really feel particular by being attentive to her and giving her costly presents, together with a laptop computer for Christmas, a pair of sneakers, and, when she and her household finally moved out, a gold ring with diamonds that he advised her had belonged to his mom.
She later got here to view this remedy as grooming. She supplied the ring to police as proof, in response to a receipt signed by a detective with the lawyer basic’s workplace.
Foster finally touched and kissed Hinerman in a sexual method on a number of events when she lived with him, she stated. After she and her mom moved out, their contact grew to become much less frequent. As years handed, she realized that what occurred was flawed and struggled with emotions of guilt, she stated.
She didn’t inform anybody till mid-October 2017, when somebody near her confided their very own sexual abuse, and Hinerman responded that she had additionally been a sufferer. Quickly after, she advised her mom and her aunt, who inspired her to go to the police.
Maine State Police Detective Jennifer Fiske interviewed Hinerman on Oct. 25, 2017, in response to a abstract of the interview supplied to Hinerman by the Maine lawyer basic’s workplace. The workplace redacted figuring out details about the topic of the investigation, however the doc states that Hinerman described having been sexually abused when she was 13 by a person she and her mom moved in with in 2009. She advised the detective particulars of not less than 5 particular incidents of sexual touching.
The lawyer basic’s workplace finally took over the case, in response to a redacted case report authored by Detective Peter Lizanecz, dated Sept. 9, 2018.
Through the police investigation, Hinerman tried to get Foster to confess to the abuse in a phone name that was being recorded by police, however he didn’t, after which he stopped answering her cellphone calls, she stated.
McKee stated his shopper handed two lie detector checks administered by separate examiners.
“That confirmed that he was telling the reality that he by no means, ever engaged in any improper habits in any respect. The matter was utterly closed, appropriately, at the moment,” McKee stated.
Officers with the lawyer basic’s workplace talked about the polygraph checks once they advised Hinerman that they didn’t suppose they may persuade a jury of Foster’s guilt, she stated. Hinerman supplied to take a take a look at herself, however officers advised her she didn’t have to as a result of they already believed her, she stated.
“I used to be very upset, and I felt defeated and let down by the justice system,” Hinerman stated.
A spokesperson for the lawyer basic’s workplace declined to touch upon the matter aside from to substantiate that no costs have been introduced in opposition to Foster.
Along with telling police, Hinerman has made constant allegations in opposition to Foster to different professionals since she first advised relations in 2017.
She noticed a therapist in 2018 to deal with psychological well being signs associated to the alleged abuse. An consumption kind accomplished by her then-therapist states that Hinerman sought remedy after having been molested by a person that she lived with when she was 12, and who’s now the district lawyer for Hancock and Washington counties. Hinerman obtained the shape and supplied it to the BDN.
She additionally recounted the allegations to a personal investigator in September 2020.
At that point, she was contemplating bringing a civil lawsuit in opposition to Foster and approached a Bangor lawyer, Larry Willey. Willey employed Sharon Worcester, a personal investigator, to look into the case, and she or he performed a prolonged interview with Hinerman. A written abstract of the interview comprises the identical allegations that Hinerman beforehand advised police. It names Foster.
Alexis Chardon, one other lawyer whom Hinerman spoke to in 2020 a couple of potential civil case, additionally confirmed that Hinerman reported Foster as the one who abused her as a baby.
Hinerman finally determined to not transfer ahead with a lawsuit on the time as a result of she was busy in nursing faculty, she stated.
When Hinerman discovered that Foster and his opponent, Robert Granger, can be taking part in a public discussion board, and the moderators have been taking questions from the general public, her father determined to submit the query about whether or not both candidate had beforehand been investigated.
She wasn’t fully positive what Foster would say in response, however she didn’t anticipate him to disclaim it.
When he did, she stated, “I used to be outraged.”
Correction: An earlier model of this story said that Matthew Foster was working within the state’s solely contested race. He’s the one incumbent going through reelection.