![]() ![]() The BDN confirmed the sale of guns from evidence through public records requests starting last October. At first, the county provided incomplete records pointing only to a trade of guns with J.T. There are some sheriffs in the state, I believe, that think they’re above the law.” “They need to recognize that the commissioners hold the purse strings. “Just like past sheriffs, I think he’s taken a lot of liberties that they should not take,” Duguay said of Wainwright. ![]() Commissioners control county budgets and hiring, but they cannot discipline elected sheriffs. The Oxford County commissioners ultimately decided in May to give Wainwright a second chance and not recommend that he be removed from office. Someone recorded the sheriff then overstating his authority and yelling at the deputy for expressing his unease with the request. The revelations about the gun deal come at a tenuous time for the sheriff, who was recently investigated after a deputy reported him for asking the deputy to go easy on a woman cited for a traffic violation. But for many of the guns, the sheriff’s office didn’t have a record of their origins, raising questions about whether the sheriff had the authority to sell them at all given legal restrictions on disposing of evidence. Some of the guns Wainwright sold from evidence appeared to have been lost or abandoned, and others were seized in criminal investigations or collected after suicides. After phone calls and emails to the sheriff over a period of a month asking for an explanation about where the money went, he said Thursday in an email that all proceeds went to purchasing “equipment for the county.” He did not elaborate in response to further questions. What the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office received in return for the guns is not clear. He did not tell the county administrator, the county treasurer or the county commissioners about the sale beforehand even though they are responsible for county finances. Reid’s Gun Shop in Auburn as part of a deal that he apparently did not record on paper. In two separate batches, in June and September 2021, the sheriff sold a total of 52 guns and gun parts from evidence to J.T. An outside expert said the situation should prompt an independent investigation. Instead of asking Halacy to try to return it to its rightful owner, Wainwright sold it and dozens of other guns in a deal that has avoided public scrutiny, even by Oxford County’s financial officers, until now. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |