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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