GORHAM – A cloud of uncertainty hangs over Gorham as no results have been released and no charges filed following an investigation into whether a signature on a Gorham town document dated 12 years ago is forged.
Now, Gorham resident Bernard Broder and Town Councilor Benjamin Hartwell, who had pushed for a police investigation concerning a town official’s signature on a document connected with the town’s attempt to seize Phinney Street Extension for a public road, want to know why.
Questions about the signature’s authenticity were raised in a lawsuit brought against the town by property owners.
But, a recent Gorham Police Department investigation of the signature issue has not led the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office to file charges.
“The DA’s office has advised the Police Department that there will not be any complaint issued,” Town Manager David Cole emailed the American Journal on Dec. 18.
Gorham’s town lawyer, William Dale, declined to comment.
“Nothing at this time,” Dale wrote in an email.
Meanwhile, police and the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office have not revealed any details of the probe.
“I am unable to provide you with any information on this matter,” Tamara Getchell, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, emailed on Dec. 16 in a response to a request for comment.
Broder, a criminal defense lawyer who lives on Phinney Street, said in a prepared statement that he did not know why “the district attorney has elected not to pursue this matter at this time.”
Hartwell hopes to meet with Gorham police to learn about the district attorney’s decision not to file a complaint.
“I don’t think Gorham Police Department would have given results of the investigation to the district attorney unless they thought something wrong was committed,” Hartwell said on Friday.
The issue stems from the Gorham Town Council’s 2002 vote to seize by eminent domain Phinney Street Extension for a public road. But, a legal snarl developed 10 years later when the town filed the taking with the Registry of Deeds and some impacted Phinney Street Extension property owners objected, filing legal action in 2012.
In June this year, Cole announced a settlement agreement was reached in mediation that resulted in Phinney Street Extension no longer being a town road. However, court documents in the case reveal that a question was raised in 2014 by a handwriting expert, who was hired by plaintiffs seeking damages, about the authenticity of the signature of Brenda Caldwell, town clerk in 2002, on the town’s certificate of taking in the eminent domain action.
“I do not believe it’s my signature,” Caldwell told the American Journal last week.
Caldwell said she was interviewed recently by Detective Sgt. Dana Thompson in the Gorham police investigation of the signature. Caldwell, a retired town clerk and a former Town Council chairwoman, said she can’t remember signing the certificate of taking, but added she signed thousands of documents in her duties as clerk.
Gorham police have not revealed whether they also hired a handwriting expert to examine the signature. But, Broder said, “I understand that two independent handwriting experts have opined that Brenda Caldwell did not sign the signature of taking at issue.”
The lack of a complaint by the district attorney’s office, Broder said, does not preclude the office filing one in the future, if the district attorney believes there “exists sufficient evidence of criminal conduct.”
“The standard of proof required to bring criminal charges is probable cause, not proof beyond reasonable doubt, the requisite standard to convict,” Broder said.
In his statement to the American Journal, Broder also outlined some observations.
“The certificate, purportedly signed in 2002, attests to a number of things having been done, including the issuance of payment to the landholders subject to the taking. The fact is no such checks were issued in 2002,” Broder said.
Broder said the checks were issued in 2012.
“There are other irregularities in the supporting documents involved, not the least of which being that the signature page of the Town Councilors serving at the time of the vote contains the names of individuals not serving on the council then and omits the names of others who were serving and participated in the vote,” Broder said.
The Town Council, Hartwell said, should review the results of the investigation. He asked to meet with police, but said Tuesday he hadn’t been contacted yet.
Broder said residents deserve “accountability and transparency” in government.
“I am petitioning my government, both the district attorney and Gorham’s Town Council, to further scrutinize this matter including the documents and the people involved and take any action they deem to be appropriate,” Broder wrote.
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