Saturday, July 11, 2015
Joshua Gray, PI: Maine State Police violate civil, constitutional a...
Joshua Gray, PI: Maine State Police violate civil, constitutional a...: Lt. Scott Ireland, Det. David Pelletier and Sgt Michael Johnston violate the civil, constitutional and human rights of Massachusetts PI. T...
Joshua Gray, PI: 5 Victims Now Say Same Maine State Police violated...
Joshua Gray, PI: 5 Victims Now Say Same Maine State Police violated...: By Joshua Gray, PI from Boston, Mass There are now five victims, that I am aware of, who have been wronged by the same Maine State Po...
Joshua Gray, PI: Michael Harrington Threatens lawsuit against Massa...
Joshua Gray, PI: Michael Harrington Threatens lawsuit against Massa...: By Joshua Gray, PI from Boston, Mass In an apparent effort to silence me from uncovering a possible corrupt connecting between a la...
Joshua Gray, PI: 2nd PI Claims Violations by Same Maine State Polic...
Joshua Gray, PI: 2nd PI Claims Violations by Same Maine State Polic...: By Joshua Gray, PI from Boston, MA Bob Doyon of Greene, Maine, who has held a Private Investigator license in Maine for many years, was...
2nd PI Claims Violations by Same Maine State Police
By Joshua Gray, PI from Boston, MA
Bob Doyon of Greene, Maine, who has held a Private Investigator license in Maine for many years, was watching YouTube one night. He came across a video posted by me, a Massachusetts Investigator titled ‘Maine State Police violate the civil, constitutional and human rights of Massachusetts PI’. This video clearly outlined how Lt. Scott Ireland and Det. David Pelletier charged me with a crime I did not commit and then retaliated against me after winning in court. He was immediately compelled to send me a message because my video stirred up dormant emotions of his experience with the very same troopers.
The next morning I spoke with Mr. Doyon on the phone and our conversation sent chills down my spine. What they did to him was nearly identical to what happened to me. His story began as he recalled working an assignment in Oxford County and obtaining some great footage of a man committing insurance fraud. The man was doing work on an old house. The footage obtained by Mr. Boyon was very damaging to the man’s insurance claim and he was forced to settle for a very low amount. The man was very upset about this and reported Mr. Doyon to the police, stating that he was trespassing on his property when he obtained the footage. After a thorough investigation by the local police, the DA refused to prosecute Mr. Doyon for any crime and cleared him of all wrongdoing.
When Lt. Ireland and Det. Pelletier along with a Sgt. Zabarsky learned of this incident, they opened a State Police Investigation despite the conclusions of the Oxford county DA. The case was thoroughly re-investigated by the State Attorney General; however the AG office still refused to prosecute the incident. Mr. Doyon’s Private Investigator license needed to be renewed and he sent a renewal application to the State Police. However Lt. Ireland would not authorize the renewal and instead placed his application into a pending status. He then advised Mr. Doyon that he would allow him to illegally work assignments in Maine without a license, pending the outcome of their investigation. Mr. Doyon refused to work in Maine without a valid license fearing that Lt. Ireland and Det. Pelletier would charge him with that crime also.
The State Police investigation into Mr. Doyon’s Private Investigator license continued. Several fact finding hearings were conducted where he voluntarily spoke with Det. Pelletier and Lt. Ireland about what happened. However Lt. Ireland and Det. Pelletier were not interested in the truth. They conducted the interviews in a very adversarial manner and seemed frustrated when Mr. Doyon would not go along with their pre-conceived notions of what they alleged, and how they misapply the law. In spite of all the evidence to contrary, including the fact the DA of Oxford County and the State AG would not prosecute, they decided that Mr. Doyon was guilty of criminal trespass and invasion of privacy and decided to revoke his PI license. They became ‘judge, jury and executioner’ and violated the very laws they swore to uphold. This was a clear violation of Mr. Doyon’s constitutional rights of due process and his human right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Mr. Doyon was never charged with any crime and clearly qualified for renewal.
Mr. Doyon reached an agreement, under duress, where he would accept a 30 day suspension rather than go through a lengthy and costly appeal process. Mr. Doyon felt the process was rigged and he had no chance of winning the appeal due to political corruption between the PI association and Lt. Ireland & Det. Pelletier. However both Mr. Doyon and I feel that his license should never have been in jeopardy in the first place. He did not break any laws and was never even charged with a crime. When Lt. Ireland and Det. Pelletier refused to renew his license, they clearly were the law breakers. (Maine criminal law title 17-A Chapter 93-C Section 2931 Interference with constitutional and civil rights. A class D Misdemeanor). They also violated his constitutional rights of equal protection and his human rights of the presumption of innocents.
While going through this process, Mr. Doyon told me that Lt. Ireland and Det. Pelletier lied to him, approached him in a very adversarial and aggressive manner and never seemed interested in the truth. While he went through the details of his story, it almost seemed like they wanted to put him out of business. Things started making a little more sense to me when he told me that Lt. Ireland and Det. Pelletier were on an oversight board with Michael Harrington, the owner and operator of ‘Merrill’s Investigations’, one of the largest PI firms in Maine. Mr. Doyon explained to me how Mr. Harrington was the single biggest force behind the recent changes in the PI laws; manipulating people and rising to the top as president of the MLPIA (Maine Licensed Private Investigators Association) that made it harder for out of state companies and small one man operations to work in Maine. I could not believe what I was hearing. These are the things you read about in Ayn Rand books, not experience in real life.
I found it even more interesting as Mr. Doyon explained that many years ago, when he was a Police Officer, he was called to the scene of an accident where he found a relative of a Maine State Trooper intoxicated. Then Officer Doyon, arrested this individual on DUI. Doyon explained this aforementioned Trooper was then in charge of Licensing of Private Investigators. It was clear when their re-investigation failed to produce any new evidence and the AG wouldn’t prosecute Mr. Doyon of any wrongdoing, Lt. Ireland and Det. Pelletier retaliated and refused to renew Mr. Doyon’s PI license. In some ways this was a double retaliation by these disgusting Troopers, first for good 'ol boys and second for not being charged with a crime they predetermined he was guilty of.
Due to the illegal actions of Lt. Ireland and Det. Pelletier, Mr. Doyon went without a license for nearly 5 months. The state police supposedly only suspended his license for 30 days, however in reality he was out of business for nearly five months. During that period his income and business were destroyed and he reached a low that he never imagined could happen. Mr. Doyon, as anyone would, was depressed and defeated. He felt powerless and victimized by the very people that are supposed to protect and serve. He slowly rebuilt his life and his business, however has never really recovered from the scars left on him by these rouge state troopers.
As I listened to him on the phone, I believed everything he told me, because the same things happened to me. Maybe not the exact same way, but Lt. Ireland and Det. Pelletier destroyed my business also and left me feeling the same way. They retaliated against me after I won in court and so I knew Mr. Doyon’s pain. They lied to me and never wanted to accept the truth. They pre-determined that I was guilty just like they did with Mr. Doyon. Both he and I are the victim of the lawlessness and corruption of Lt. Scott Ireland and Det. David Pelletier.
Sometimes in life you do not get a do-over. If you accidentally run into a pedestrian with your vehicle, and that person dies, you will be charged and go to prison for vehicular manslaughter. The circumstances of why you accidentally hit the pedestrian, no matter how valid, do not matter. You killed somebody and destroyed their family’s life. It does not matter if you’re the best person in the world, your still going to be charged with a crime and spend time in prison. It would not even matter if you were a decorated hero police officer who recently saved somebody’s life. There are some things that we as a society have deemed so egregious, that nobody should get away with. The standard for such an incident is usually an act or crime that destroys somebody’s life. When it comes to the law enforcement community, this standard is all too often overlooked. Many things that police have the power to do can adversely or seriously effect somebody’s life. If somebody is charged with a serious misdemeanor or felony it will often destroy them. That’s why police have a duty to never charge an innocent person with a crime or treat an innocent person like they are guilty. Our Founding Fathers recognized this and wrote the constitution and Bill of Rights to protect citizens from an overzealous government. The Maine State Police have two troopers in their ranks that embody everything our founding fathers feared. Their names are Lt. Scott W Ireland and Det. David Pelletier.
How many more victim’s need to come out before these two corrupt troopers are fired and charged with a crime for what they have done. Doing it to only one person is enough for them to be charged and fired. Now two people have come forward. I also know of another, who is currently afraid to come forward. I encourage them to change their mind however respect whatever decision they make. There is also a video on YouTube of then Sgt. Ireland telling a citizen “…you have lost your privilege to call the Governor’s office…”. I also located a video on YouTube of, who I believed to be, Det. Pelletier standing by a police cruiser while an unknown trooper walks up to a citizen and intimidates him for filming the police. I have reported their actions to the Maine State Police, Department of Public Safety, Office of Professional Standards, the internal affairs department. Lt. Anna Love will be heading up the investigation into them. Please contact her if you have also been victimized by Lt. Ireland or Det. Pelletier. Lt. Anna Love’s phone number is 207-624-7291 and her email address is Anna.H.Love@maine.gov
Here is a link to the video that Mr. Doyon watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1WS3P0mVmA&spfreload=10
Maine
State Police Violate Civil, Constitutional and Human rights of Mass PI
2nd
Victim Claims Same Maine State Police Violated Rights
5
Victims now say Maine State Police Violated Rights
Michael
Harrington Threatens Lawsuit Against Mass PIMichael Harrington Threatens lawsuit against Massachusetts PI
By Joshua Gray, PI from Boston, Mass
In an apparent effort to silence me from uncovering a
possible corrupt connecting between a large Maine private investigation company
and Maine State Police Lt. Scott Ireland, Det. David Pelletier, Sgt. Michael Johnston
and Sgt. Michael Zabarsky; Michael Harrington of “Merrill’s Investigations’ has
sent a cease and desist letter to me. In the letter he references two articles
that I wrote, where I brought up some serious questions about Mr. Harrington’s
connections and friendships with the aforementioned troopers and the State legislatures
recent changes in the Private Investigation laws. In my article I suggest that “someone
should look into” the possibility that Mr. Harrington used his position as the
President of the Maine Licensed Private Investigator Association (MLPIA) to
influence and urge lawmakers to change the Maine PI laws. I suggested that “someone
should look into” information that Mr. Harrington’s lawyer(s) wrote a draft of
the new law before it went to lawmakers.
Mr. Michael Harrington sent me a cease and desist letter
through his attorney, Richard D Tucker, and demanded that I stop all defamation
of the character and reputation of Michael C. Harrington and Merrill’s
Investigation and Security Services, LLC. I was surprised they used the threat
of a lawsuit to communicate with me when at the end of each article I ask for
readers to send me an email if I am wrong with any of the facts or have
additional information. Rather than threaten me with a lawsuit, Mr. Harrington
could have easily just sent me an email. I am not interested in making false
statements about an honest businessman, I am only interested in the truth. The
questions and suggestions that I made were based on information that I
obtained. They were valid questions that deserve to be answered.
The most interesting thing about Mr. Harrington’s cease and
desist letter, sent through his attorney, is that he only denies that he used
undue influence to pressure Maine Lawmakers to change the PI laws and that he
pressured Maine police detectives to put competing investigators out of
business. I have compelling information from multiple sources, as well as a
survey of my clients, that contradicts this claim and I once again call on
someone at the State Attorney General’s office or an independent investigator
to look into this further. I ask that Mr. Harrington join me in requesting this
investigation in an effort to uncover the truth of this matter.
One of the most interesting questions that arose when I received
Mr. Harrington’s cease and desist letter was ‘why did he send it?’ My articles
focused on the possible corruption with Maine State Police Lt. Scott Ireland,
Det. David Pelletier and Sgt. Michael Johnston. I even wrote multiple times
that “I do not have anything against Mr. Harrington”. So I again ask the
question, why would he send a cease and desist letter. The first reason that
comes to mind is that he wanted to intimidate me with the threat of a lawsuit
because what I wrote hurts his business. However he does not ask me to amend or
correct the articles. He did not ask that I take out the sections about him or
his company. He demanded that I delete all articles from the internet within 10
days or face a lawsuit. So why then would he ask me to delete articles that
could just as easily be amended, articles that do not focus entirely on him,
articles that in fact make Lt. Scott Ireland, Det. David Pelletier and Sgt,
Michael Johnston look much worse than Mr. Harrington. This led me to the
realization that if I complied with Mr. Harrington’s request to delete my
articles from the internet, it would be much more beneficial to Maine State
Police Lt. Scott Ireland, Det. David Pelletier and Sgt. Michael Johnston than
it would for Mr. Harrington. In fact I went to a google.com search engine and
conducted a search for my article’s using Mr. Harrington’s name and discovered
they don’t even show up for the most part. While if I search for the same
articles using any of the trooper’s names or my own name, the articles show up
on the first page of results. This seemed to confirm my theory was correct, the
cease and desist letter benefits the troopers I am complaining about much more
than Mr. Harrington.
So this leads to a complicated and interesting question. Did
Lt. Ireland, Det. Pelletier or Sgt. Johnston ask Michael Harrington to send the
cease and desist letter to me?
Here is a copy of the letter:
Here are the links to my previous articles about the Maine
State Police:
5 Victims Now Say Same Maine State Police violated rights.
By Joshua
Gray, PI from Boston, Mass
There are
now five victims, that I am aware of, who have been wronged by the same Maine
State Police Lt. Scott Ireland, Det. David Pelletier, Sgt. Johnston and Sgt.
Zabarsky. I am starting to understand why so many have come forward. When I
posted an article on LinkedIn recently about how Maine State Police troopers
under the command of Lt. Scott Ireland violated my rights and retaliated against
me. I had no idea that it would lead to what I am about to write. I did not
want any of this to happen to me. I was happy running my PI practice and
keeping to myself. I believe in good old fashion hard work and self-reliance, a
virtue passed down to me through generations of my ancestors. However I am
troubled by what I have learned since posting the first LinkedIn article about
my case.
The pieces
started falling into place when Bobby Doyon, a licensed Maine PI, sent me a
message saying the same troopers violated his rights. Then a second person came
forward and told me how the same troopers made the application process so
arduous they finally gave up trying. As I learned more about their stories and
started connecting dots; a third and a fourth person messaged me with similar
stories about the Weapons and Licensing Division of the Maine State Police. The
names of the troopers remained consistent, while the stories would vary.
However a theme was beginning to develop. If you were from out-of-state or a
sole proprietor Investigator, you may be a target of the weapons and licensing
division run by Lt Scott Ireland. This was troubling however seemed consistent
with an article I read about how Lt. Ireland was involved in making it harder
for out-of-state citizens to get concealed carry permits in Maine.
Click here
to learn more about Mr. Bobby Doyon’s Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJqg2OCOcOY
I wish that
my article ended here, but unfortunately I have learned much more troubling
information. A kingpin Investigator entered the picture. His name is Michael
Harrington and he is the owner of ‘Merrill’s Investigations’ the largest PI
company in Maine. I mentioned him in my article about Bobby Doyon’s case,
however did not know much about him. Mr. Harrington also had a great deal of
input and interest in the recent changes to the Maine PI laws. I have a source,
that Michael Harrington had the new law drafted by one of his own attorneys before
it went to the legislator. So far I just have one source on this, however maybe
someone should look into that.
Mr.
Harrington is the former president of the MLPIA association. I suspected this
organization wanted to crack down on out-of-state investigators, however I did
not know that it was Mr. Harrington’s leadership that was behind most of that. The
fact the MLPIA under the leadership of Mr. Harrington wanted to change the laws
to make it more difficult for out-of-state investigators and non-member
investigators is understandable. Business is cutthroat and if you see an
opportunity to slow down, weaken or even eliminate the competition; then why
not do it. As a Christian I don’t operate my business that way, however I have
seen many successful businesses that do.
The pieces
continued to fall into place when I learned that prior to Michael Harrington’s
involvement with the MLPIA association, there were only 40-50 members. When Mr.
Harrington joined he brought with him all of his sub-contractors and paid for
their memberships in most cases. This swelled the numbers to over 100 members.
When it came time to elect new leadership, Mr. Harrington became president.
When more than half the members are on your payroll, it’s pretty easy to see
why he became president. One member told me that it was understood “that you
either voted for Mike or you did not have any work on Monday morning.” Mr.
Harrington manipulated his supporters to become elected president of the MLPIA
association. He then used his new position to get the new PI laws in front of
the legislature and continued to use his influence to see his ideas become
law.
Once the new
laws went into effect, Michael Harrington left the MLPIA and started a new association.
As I pieced this information together I came to the realization that I was
wrong about the MLPIA association. They were not the ones pressuring the Maine State
Police to crack down on out-of-state PI’s, it was Mr. Harrington that was
trying to use his influence to make the State Police and legislature eliminate
his competition. As I continued learning new information, I began to further
understand why Lt. Ireland and Det. Pelletier would not issue a PI License to
me and take away my biggest client. It seemed more and more possible they were unduly
influenced by Michael Harrington. My evidence on this is developing. However,
maybe somebody should look into that.
It should be
noted that Michael Harrington was recently voted to be the chairman of an
oversight board that regulates and oversees the PI field in Maine. He was
nominated by Lt. Scott Ireland. WHAT??? That’s rights, he’s regulating and
overseeing HIMSELF. How is that even legal? Some other members of this
oversight board are Det. David Pelletier and Sgt. Michael Zabarsky. Another
member is Brian MacMaster, who I will write more about later in this article. When
I wrote, in my first article, that I suspected the PI association was
influencing the State Police. I had no clue Michael Harrington was the single
largest force behind the recent changes in the new PI law and was on an
oversight board with the very troopers I suspected were being influenced. Not
just on the board, but the chairman of the board.
This raised
some interesting questions in my mind. It occurred to me that I was in a unique
position to test a theory. One of the questions I had was ‘Is Mr. Harrington
unduly influencing Lt. Ireland to put people out of business and then sweeping
in to take their clients?’ The reason that I was in a position to test this,
was because I was sub-contracting out work in Maine before Det. Pelletier
charged me with a crime. When he told me it was illegal to profit off a case in
Maine, even if the case is sub-contracted to a Licensed Maine Investigator, I
told all my clients that I was no longer accepting work in Maine. This was Det.
Pelletier’s first strike against my Business. I knew he was wrong, but I didn’t
want to make my situation any worse.
In order to test
my theory, I spent several hours talking on the phone and sending emails to
past clients that handle cases in Maine. My unscientific survey question to
them was simply, ‘who are you currently using in Maine for your PI needs?’ Some
did not want to say, many emails received no response however from the people
who did respond Mr. Harrington’s company was mentioned. This meant that my
theory may be correct, Mr. Harrington is using Lt. Ireland to put people out of
business and then sweeping in to take their clients. I want to be clear that
it’s possible Lt. Ireland is being manipulated by Mr. Harrington. Maybe I’m the
only victim of this. But, maybe someone should look into that!
If what I
have stumbled onto turns out to be true, I don’t even know what to say. Let’s
just hope it’s not true. But again, maybe someone should look into that!
I want to be clear, I have nothing against Mr. Harrington; he is playing a
cutthroat game in a very competitive industry. However the State Police are supposed
to be referees that keep the game of business fair, and if Lt. Ireland is
unduly influenced by Big Business in Maine, well you know how ‘Shawshank
Redemption’ ended. They come to arrest the warden! The same person that told
one citizen “you’ve lost your privilege to call the Governor’s office” and
wrote to me “I know your case was dismissed on a technicality….” Is the same
person who is potentially playing favorites as the Commander of the licensing
division of the Maine State Police. His name is Lt. Scott W Ireland.
Before I
posted an article about my case and uploaded the video to YouTube. I sent a
complaint to Maine Attorney General Janet Mills. After several weeks went by, I
received a response from Brian MacMaster with the AG’s office. His initial
response was confusing as he only advised me that my complaint had been
forwarded to my attorney. It was not until I posted the article that he advised
that he wouldn’t be opening an investigation into Lt. Ireland, Det. Pelletier
or Sgt. Johnston. It became crystal clear why when I learned that Mr. MacMaster
was on the same oversight board that Lt. Ireland and Det. Pelletier are on. I
learned that Mr. MacMaster is practically neighbors with Michael Harrington.
The same Mr. Harrington that was behind the recent changes in the PI Law, that
is putting pressure on Lt. Ireland to ‘get’ out-of-state investigators and that
was recently voted to be chairman of the oversight board. The fact that Mr.
MacMaster was assigned to my complaint about Lt. Ireland, Det. Pelletier and Sgt.
Johnston raises serious ethical questions. He is clearly friends and colleagues
with the very troopers I am complaining about. How does that even happen, perhaps
someone should look into that!
As new victims
came forward, I made internal affairs trooper Lt. Anna Love aware. However she
was clear the victims need to contact her directly. I tried to get them to call
her, however they were skeptical that Lt. Love would do anything. Because of
this, I thought of a way to ease their resistance. I sent Lt. Love an email
asking for her to tell me ‘how many troopers she has referred to the AG for
prosecution?’ I felt this information would give her credibility that I could
use to get the other victims to call her. I was confused when she would not
answer the question and then referred the question to State Police lawyer
Christopher Parr. However I asked him the same question and after six days, he
initially agreed to answer, however then replied by telling me they do not keep
track of that information. Lt. Love would obviously know how many internal
affairs investigations, she has been involved with, that led to criminal charges
by the Attorney General. I am beginning to wonder if the other victims have a
valid reason to be skeptical. I am still holding out hope that Lt. Anna Love
will do the right thing. Her phone number is 207-624-7291.
The more I
learn about this case, the more questions I have. Here are a few:
-
Why did the Attorney General assign my complaint
to Brian MacMaster?
-
Why did Lt. Love not want to tell me how many
troopers she has investigated that led to criminal charges?
-
How can Michael Harrington, owner of the largest
PI firm in Maine, become chairman of an oversight board that regulates PI’s in
Maine?
-
What is Lt. Ireland’s motivation for putting Mr.
Harrington’s competition out of business?
-
What is Det. Pelletier, Sgt. Johnston and Sgt.
Zabarsky’s motivation to go along with Lt. Ireland?
-
What pieces have I not connected yet?
-
Do troopers above Lt. Ireland know what’s going
on?
-
How many other victims are there?
-
How do I get justice when it appears the
attorney general and internal affairs are protecting Lt. Ireland?
-
Are other divisions within the state Police just
as corrupt?
-
How far down this rabbit hole do I really want
to go?
If you have
answers or I am wrong with any of the facts in this article, please write to me
at joshgray@nationalsi.com. I will
post corrections to the LinkedIn article and mention them on my Facebook page
and twitter feed. Please also write if you have additional information about
this story.
I will post
any updates here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/NSI-Surveillance-Investigation/111486174534?ref=bookmarks
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