Gov. Janet Mills administers the oath of office to Dr. Alice Briones as Maine’s new chief medical examiner. Photo courtesy of the governor’s office

Gov. Janet Mills swore in Dr. Alice Briones as Maine’s new chief medical examiner on Monday, filling a position that was vacated last year amid controversy.

Briones is a native of Hampden and a University of Maine graduate who recently retired from a distinguished military career as a U.S. Air Force colonel and director of the U.S. Armed Forces Medical Examiner System.

As chief medical examiner for the U.S. military, Briones was the first woman to lead the only worldwide medical examiner system, overseeing more than 300 military and civilian personnel who are responsible for providing the Department of Defense and other federal agencies with comprehensive forensic investigative services.

“I am pleased to welcome Dr. Briones and her family back to Maine and thank her for her willingness to serve her home state after her prestigious career in the armed services,” Mills said in a written statement. “Her experience leading the world’s only global medical examiner system has positioned her well to take on the important role as Maine’s chief medical examiner.”

Mills announced her appointment of Briones in April, after it came to light that Dr. Mark Flomenbaum had quietly retired in December after receiving a formal reprimand by the governor over allegations of inappropriate conduct.

Flomenbaum notified the governor’s office that he didn’t want to be reappointed to the post when his term expired in June 2021, but he agreed to stay on until a new medical examiner was appointed. In that time, his annual salary topped $317,000, making him one of the highest-paid state employees.

The governor’s office didn’t respond immediately to a request for Briones’ salary.

Shortly after her appointment, Briones began working part time in the medical examiner’s office while she moved her family to Maine.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed hitting the ground running, working on the forensic challenges in Maine, with the top-tier, tenured staff at the (medical examiner’s office) these first few weeks,” Briones said in a statement.

She said the staff’s compassion, enthusiasm and dedication to a difficult job “has further codified that coming to this office was the absolute right next step in my forensics career and the best way to give back to the state of Maine community with my specific skill set.”

The Office of Chief Medical Examiner is a statewide system charged with investigating sudden, unexpected and violent deaths. Immediately following Flomenbaum’s retirement, the office relied primarily on the deputy chief medical examiner, Dr. Liam Funte, to conduct investigations.

Flomenbaum’s career hit highs and lows before and after then-Gov. Paul LePage named him chief medical examiner in August 2014. He had been deputy chief medical examiner for about five months when his predecessor retired.

Before coming to Maine, Flomenbaum built a national reputation as a top medical examiner for his work in helping to identify bodies from the World Trade Center after 9/11. Later, he ran the medical examiner’s office in Massachusetts but was fired after two years when a body was lost. Critics said the office had developed a backlog of bodies waiting to be examined.

During his time as Maine’s chief medical examiner, the office was named one of the best in the country by the National Association of Medical Examiners, which issued a full accreditation in 2018.

But Flomenbaum also was criticized for having a side business as a consultant on out-of-state deaths and suffered another professional setback in 2016, when a Connecticut judge found his testimony in a child manslaughter case to be “not credible.”

He made news again in 2019, when he changed his findings regarding the angle of a fatal shot in the death of Alicia Gaston of Windham, leading to a mistrial. In a subsequent trial, Noah Gaston was found guilty of his wife’s murder.

Mills issued a formal reprimand to Flomenbaum in 2020, after he gave an “inappropriate gift” to a departing employee and allegations were made of “inappropriate and unprofessional behavior, including behavior that may have been sexual in nature, in the workplace.”

Details of the gift and allegations were never released.