LEWISTON — A Lisbon Falls man convicted of manslaughter in the 2007 death of an 8-month-old girl was back in court Wednesday to answer charges of violating probation.
Todd Gamache listens to his lawyer, Justin Leary, during his appearance at 8th District Court in Lewiston on Wednesday. Gamache has been charged with violating his probation from a manslaughter conviction. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
Todd Gamache, 36, of 11 School St. denied in 8th District Court that he had violated conditions of his four-year probation.
Judge Lea-Anne Sutton ordered Gamache held without bail at Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn until his probation revocation hearing Feb. 27.
His probation officer wrote in court documents there was probable cause to believe that Gamache, released from prison just over a year ago after serving nearly 12 years, had violated his probation by committing forgery and having contact with children under age 16.
Earlier this month, Gamache filed a motion in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn to modify his probation conditions to allow him contact with younger children. At the end of his motion, a handwritten note reads “18 pages attached.”
One of those attachments is a typed letter that closes with a handwritten signature, purporting to be that of a woman representing an insurance sales company. The letter said Gamache was interested in writing and underwriting mortgage insurance at that company.
Maine Probation Officer Michelle Dubay wrote in a Jan. 28 affidavit that she noticed, along with Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue, that the handwriting in the motion and the signature in the letter “appear to be the same or similar handwriting.”
Other clues from the letter tipped off the probation officer.
“Concerns were raised on the validity of the letter and its content,” Dubay wrote.
She spoke with the woman whose name appeared as the author of the letter. That woman denied she had written and signed the letter and said she hadn’t authorized anyone to do that on her behalf.
The woman told Dubay that she knew Gamache through his fiancee, who had worked as a subcontractor for the company.
The same woman told authorities that she had invited Gamache and his fiancee to a meal last month at her home where her five children were. She said Gamache hadn’t disclosed that his probation barred him from having contact with children under 16.
When confronted with the evidence of the alleged forgery, Gamache told Dubay he had mistakenly included the letter with his motion.
An officer at the Lisbon Police Department said Gamache’s fiancee admitted she had written and signed it using the name of the woman from the insurance company. She said she hadn’t attached the letter to the motion filed by Gamache.
Gamache was charged with murder and manslaughter and pleaded in 2008 to reckless or criminally negligent manslaughter, a Class A crime, punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
A judge imposed an 18-year sentence, with four years suspended. If a judge were to find he violated terms of his probation, he could be ordered to serve some or all of that suspended time.
On March 22, 2007, Gamache’s then-girlfriend picked up her baby from day care and took her to a local school. She called Gamache, who had been living at her apartment for about six months, and asked him to come get the baby and take her back to the apartment.
He did. Later that night, when she and one of her daughters arrived home, Gamache told her to call 911 because something was wrong with the baby.
Gamache had been alone in the apartment with the baby for roughly 45 minutes, according to prosecutors. His account of events changed several times when questioned by investigators. He’d variously said that he’d dropped the baby in the bathtub, hit her head against a wall in the stairwell then dropped her on the living room floor.
She was unconscious when she was rushed to a local hospital and died two days after she was taken off life support.
Gamache wrote in his recent motion that he was seeking to amend the conditions of this probation because his fiancee has two teenage sons.
“The defendant implores the court to modify this condition of probation so that he can get married, develop a rapport with said children, and his fiancee does not feel either herself or her children will be in any danger,” he wrote.
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