x
Breaking News
More () »

Former Oxford County sheriff to testify about claims of sexual harassment

Wayne Gallant resigned as Oxford County sheriff in December amid claims he solicited sex from his employees, and recent court testimony revealed the FBI has been investigating for months.

SOUTH PARIS (NEWS CENTER Maine) – A sexting scandal, an FBI investigation, and now subpoenas.

Former Oxford County Sheriff Wayne Gallant resigned in December once claims he solicited sex from his employees became public. Court testimony this month brought news of the FBI’s months-long investigation to public knowledge.

The disgraced sheriff may finally have to speak about these accusations on the record, after the Oxford County Sheriff’s department confirmed Thursday he would be subpoenaed.

RELATED: Oxford County Sheriff Wayne Gallant under investigation

Now, Gallant’s alleged behavior may tie in to a seemingly unrelated case: a charge of domestic violence against Brian Landis, a former deputy at the sheriff’s department under Gallant.

Court documents reveal that Gallant allegedly solicited Landis and his wife for sex. Landis, according to the documents, denied the alleged advances.

Landis’ lawyer claims the alleged police misconduct warrants throwing out his client’s domestic violence charge.

AN FBI INVESTIGATION REVEALED, EVIDENCE ‘TAMPERED WITH’

On July 11, current Chief Deputy Chris Wainwright was asked to testify by Landis’ attorney, according to interim Sheriff Jim Theriault. During Wainwright's testimony, details of the federal probe came to light.

The FBI would not comment on whether the agency is investigating. Wainwright’s testimony revealed the investigation into the sheriff’s department had been active since November, and included accusations against Gallant, as well as the possibility that former chief deputy Hart Daley destroyed evidence related to those claims.

Wainwright testified that the FBI also received separate complaints from civilians regarding Gallant’s alleged behavior. He said the FBI was able to get clearance to conduct a criminal investigation against Gallant and Daley.

“Hart Daley was removed from office. He was escorted off the property. We took his phone and computer and prior to that, he was told that we needed to preserve everything," Wainwright testified. "We received the phone. It had been wiped clean. We questioned him about the laptop, and he said he had only deleted a couple photographs."

Wainwright said that he brought Daley’s laptop to the department’s information technology employee.

“He informed me that the computer had been tampered with. Screws were missing, and when they opened up the hard drive to remove it for the FBI to take, it even still had — they described it as like EBay part numbers. It was not the original hard drive. And it had been a new computer a few months before,” said Wainwright.

The Oxford County Sheriff’s department confirmed Thursday that subpoenas were issued for Gallant and Daley to testify in the Landis’ case. The next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, July 31st.

Neither Wayne Gallant, nor Hart Daley, returned NEWS CENTER Maine’s requests for comment.

PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE: ‘A NEGATIVE IMPACT’

Interim Sheriff Jim Theriault said Thursday he stands by his chief deputy’s testimony, saying “everything he said was factual.” However, Sheriff Theriault also said Thursday that the testimony could have a “negative impact” on the FBI investigation.

“I stand behind my chief deputy 100 percent,” said Sheriff Theriault. “Whether or not it completely spoils the investigation, I can’t answer that.”

Even before he was appointed, Sheriff Theriault was briefed on the questioning of sheriff’s deputies about Gallant’s alleged behavior.

RELATED: Wayne Gallant resigns as sheriff of Oxford County

He said his goal is to regain the public’s trust in the department.

”I’m not trying to clean it up, I’m just trying to right things that I don’t think are right within the department,” said Theriault. “I’ve learned a lot about what’s going on here. A lot of it is not good, but there are good things happening in Oxford County and we’re just trying to make a better sheriff’s department.”

Before You Leave, Check This Out