RUMFORD — A father who lost two children to drugs asked Assistant Attorney General John Risler at a police workshop Thursday night why so many drug cases in Oxford County are being dismissed.

Tim Hines, a Mexico selectmen, said, “I lost two children to drugs.” Since then, he said, he has been tracking the drug crimes in Oxford, Franklin and Androscoggin counties and what he found is Oxford County is “dismissal, dismissal, dismissal.”

Tom Hines of Mexico, who lost two children to drugs, speaks Thursday at a police workshop in the Rumford Falls Auditorium about why so many drug cases in Oxford County are being dismissed. “I implore the AG’s office, we’ve got to fix this. We’ve got to find out what’s going on in the other counties that’s working, and why it isn’t working in our county,” he said. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

“It’s very discouraging for a grieving parent to see this happening,” Hines said. “I guess I would like you to explain what’s going on. Why is it working in one county and it’s not working in Oxford County?

“I implore the AG’s office, we’ve got to fix this. We’ve got to find out what’s going on in the other counties that’s working, and why it isn’t working in our county,” he said.

The exchange occurred in the Rumford Falls Auditorium where about 40 gathered to hear from police, the District Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office about policing and the judicial process. Many expressed frustration with the judicial system, that it is not hard enough on repeat offenders and is letting them return to the community.

The meeting was a result of public comments Police Chief Tony Milligan began publishing on the department’s Facebook page about final disposition reports on criminal cases, a practice that started about a year ago.

Milligan’s reasoning for the postings is to address transparency and communication with the community.

“It was heartbreaking for me that I was getting inundated on a regular basis, both me and my officers, that people would want to know what happened with a case. They’d hear about an arrest or a charge but had not heard the rest of the story and wanted to know what that outcome was,” Milligan said.

“It was always a perception that they’re always letting these bad guys go; that they’re not holding people accountable,” he said. “They’re only giving them a fine or a slap on the wrist. None of that is our job. Our job is to bring violators of the law to the prosecutor’s office. We essentially sell the case to them and they take it from there. That’s how the system works.”

Risler’s office handles criminal drug cases and he addressed Hines’ concerns.

Assistant Attorney General John Risler speaks Thursday at a police workshop in Rumford Falls Auditorium, apologizing that his office “has not done the best in handling cases in Oxford County.” Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

“First of all, sir, I’m very sorry to your loss,” he said. “I understand your frustration … What I will tell you is that my office has not always done the best in handling the cases in Oxford County.”

He acknowledged Hines was correct about the disparity in Oxford County compared to Androscoggin County.

“The way cases were being handled in Oxford County was different than they were in Androscoggin County,” he said. “I expect that that is going to change.”

“As the supervisor of the unit that handled those, that is my fault and I apologize to anyone who has been impacted by that,” Risler said. “What did we do with that? I started to work to hold people responsible for those cases accountable for doing a better job. That person is no longer with the Office of the Attorney General.

“Then I went and got the best prosecutor I could bring in here … The Office of the Attorney General is dedicated to doing a better job in Oxford County,” he said.

Neil McLean Jr., the district attorney for Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties, explained why there is such a backlog of cases and said if it continues the system will break.

“In a month’s time, we’re in court too much,” McLean said. “We’re constantly processing cases … In Oxford County, we do trials every two months. In Androscoggin, it’s every month, and in Franklin, it’s quarterly.”

He held up this month’s docket of 58 cases involving 41 defendants from Oxford County. “They’re going to be able to try maybe four cases, if they’re lucky,” he said.

“Can you imagine, four of those cases will be set for trial, in a best-case scenario,” he said. “That means 54 cases are either going to be kicked over to the next month’s docket, another 11- to 15- page docket … They’re just going to continue to backlog the system and eventually it’s going to break under the weight of all the cases.”

He held up this month’s 47-page docket for Androscoggin County listing people who need trials. “And we’re going to get to four (cases), maybe.”

But McLean noted that his office is prosecuting crimes. Of the Rumford Police Department cases that reached the DA’s office between January and August, less than 20% of them were declined or dismissed.

“The system is stacked against us,” Milligan said. “We can only do so many trials in a given month, because that’s all the court can allot us.”

He said that as crime increases and “we keep bringing these cases to his office, the number of allotted court trial dates do not change. The next result? Cases end up getting dismissed, cases end up getting plea bargained, and none of us like what that looks like on the final disposition report, and that’s what this whole point is about, to educate all of us and hope to get that part of the equation fixed.”

McLean said Prosecutorial District Three, which is Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties, is allotted 16 prosecutors. Currently, it has 10 assistant district attorneys, plus two attorney generals.

In 2023, the district had the second-highest caseload per prosecutor of the eight districts in the state: at 432 cases per prosecutor.

McLean said Oxford County is supposed to have three dedicated prosecutors. At one point last year, they had just one and now there are two.

“I’m frustrated,” Rumford police Capt. Daniel Garbarini said. “I can only imagine what it’s like for a community member that is a victim or has a family member that is a victim.”

He said, “I think this is something we need to work on. I know the prosecutors agree to some extent. We need accountability and hope that these conversations are taken in other communities. It shouldn’t just be in Rumford.”

“It’s not our problem to fix,” Milligan said. “It really needs to be fixed on the judicial level and I think that means in Augusta.”