Candidate arrested on months-old allegation 4 days before N.H. town vote – The Boston Globe

New Hampshire State Police announced on Tuesday, while voting was still underway, that one of the two candidates competing for town clerk in Northumberland, N.H., had been arrested four days earlier.

The announcement said Courtney McLain, the current deputy town clerk, was arrested Friday on 28 misdemeanor charges, each punishable by a $2,000 fine and up to a year in jail. She is accused of improperly accessing Division of Motor Vehicle records to process transactions without having the proper credentials to do so.

McLain appears to have lost Tuesday’s election. She received 220 votes while her opponent, Kathy Wiles, received 283 votes, according to unofficial results. The incumbent, Melinda “Min” Kennett, opted not to seek another term.

The announcement from police misspelled McLain’s name, misstated her age, and didn’t explain why she lacked credentials to access the Division of Motor Vehicles records relevant to the business her office conducts. Nor did it specify when the alleged offenses had occurred.

More detailed records filed with the Circuit Court in Lancaster show that all the charges are based on conduct alleged to have occurred 10 months ago.

McLain’s defense attorney, Leif A. Becker, said he has known about the investigation into this matter for at least seven months. He said the timing of this arrest doesn’t seem to be coincidental. He accused police of outright election interference.

“This amounts to nothing short of an (affront) to our democratic process,” Becker said.

A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Department of Safety, which includes New Hampshire State Police, did not respond to questions about the timing of McLain’s arrest. The trooper who signed the complaints filed in this case, Brandon Girardi, did not respond to a request for comment.

The Caledonian Record’s Paul Hayes first reported McLain’s arrest on Sunday, noting in a follow-up report that New Hampshire State Police didn’t confirm the arrest until Tuesday.

Court records specify that McLain is accused of using the New Hampshire Municipal Agent Automation Project (MAAP) computer network on May 5, 2023, to process vehicle transactions for 14 different customers by posing as an authorized MAAP user.

Becker said McLain and Kennett had each been given a six-month suspension that barred them from accessing the vehicle registration system. Their punishments came after they were found guilty in March 2023 of disclosing DMV registration information without authorization, according to court records from prior cases.

Kennett was convicted of disclosing vehicle registration information to the general manager of a local grocery store who called to ask about a vehicle that was blocking a delivery, according to the Caledonian Record.

McLain, meanwhile, was charged with disclosing vehicle registrant information in two other unauthorized ways, including during a public meeting of the Northumberland select board, according to court records. On one misdemeanor count in that case, she entered what is known as an Alford plea, Becker said. That is a type of guilty plea in which a defendant acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them, without admitting their guilt.

Select board meeting minutes from July 18, 2022, indicate McLain had asked questions about why a police officer was driving a vehicle with an expired motor vehicle registration. Her comment led not only to the criminal charge but also to civil litigation as well.

William Daisey, who was then employed as a Northumberland police lieutenant, sued McLain, Kennett, and the town. He accused McLain of unlawfully divulging confidential information about his motor vehicle records during a select board meeting.

Becker, who represents both McLain and Kennett in the civil and criminal cases, told the Globe that police carried out a “malicious” investigation and moved forward with McLain’s arrest on Friday despite evidence that contradicts their case. He said the state already has witness statements and photographic evidence to support McLain’s innocence.

In a statement, Becker had called on Northumberland voters to select McLain so she can help clean up “the ‘small town politics’ culture” that has been causing problems in local government.

“I know that Courtney cares about the Northumberland community and its residents,” Becker said, “and I look forward to addressing these charges along with the manner in which they have been investigated and brought forward.”

McLain is slated for an arraignment on June 3, police said.

This story was updated to clarify Courtney McLain’s plea in a prior case.

Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.