AUGUSTA — Donald J. Reiter, fired last November from his job as principal of Waterville High School after a student accused him of asking her for sex, surrendered his state teaching credentials permanently in exchange for the state dismissing a criminal charge against him.
The official oppression charge was dismissed Thursday during a brief hearing at the Capital Judicial Center.
“He won’t be in the classroom,” Deputy District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh told Justice Michaela Murphy.
The dismissal document filed in the court says the “defendant has agreed to permanently surrender his Department of Education credentials.” Cavanaugh said that includes credentials as a teacher and as an administrator.
The court action brings to a close more than a year of controversy over the former principal, who denied the allegation and was supported by many in the community and at the high school.
Reiter, 45, of Mount Vernon, was placed on administrative leave on Sept. 1, 2015, after an 18-year-old student alleged he had called her into his office from class on the first day of school and asked her for sex.
In an interview with a reporter on Nov. 7, 2015, Reiter adamantly denied the allegation.
But after Waterville Superintendent Eric Haley and Assistant Superintendent Peter Thiboutot had conducted an in-house investigation, Reiter was fired by the Waterville Board of Education that month. Reiter had been principal at Waterville High School since 2007 and would have been paid $102,000 in the 2015-16 school year.
The Kennebec County District Attorney’s Office filed a charge of official oppression against Reiter late last year after a criminal investigation by Waterville police. Official oppression, a misdemeanor, holds educators and those in positions of authority accountable for their actions. Reiter had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The charge dismissal had been in the works for some time, but was postponed until October to allow more time to work out details, District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said previously.
During their investigation, Waterville police learned of similar allegations against Reiter by two former students at Mascenic Regional High School in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, where Reiter worked from 1998 to 2004. He had been a teacher and an assistant principal there.
Maloney said Thursday that Reiter agreed to allow Maine authorities to share results of Waterville search warrants with police and school officials in New Hampshire.
“This will aid New Hampshire in their investigation.” Maloney said. Waterville police had executed search warrants on Reiter’s personal computer and his phone.
She also said the agreement for the dismissal “accomplishes far more than a fine of a few hundred dollars, which is the typical consequence of a misdemeanor.”
A telephone message and an email sent to New Ipswich, New Hampshire, Police Chief Tim Carpenter was not answered Thursday afternoon.
On Thursday, Reiter was in the lobby of the courthouse in Augusta but not in the courtroom when the case was being dismissed. His attorney, Walter McKee, said Reiter is now working in a different field.
After the hearing, McKee said via email: “The case is dismissed and over. Don is surrendering his Department of Education credentials which really means little because given what happened last year with the school, he has zero plans of teaching again.”
McKee added: “We would have loved nothing more than to challenge this case at trial – not only as to what happened but also as to whether there was ever even a crime here. But it is hard to turn down a complete dismissal.”
Betty Adams can be contacted at 621-5631 or at:
badams@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @betadams
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