FARMINGTON – Lawsuits have been filed against the county, sheriff and several employees of the Franklin County Jail, by two ex-detainees who claim they were deliberately poisoned at the facility.
|
|
The complaints were filed by Stephen Wing and Robert Ayer, who were detained at Franklin County Jail in 2008. The facility, at that point, was still a detention center rather than a 72-hour holding facility.
The suits have named Franklin County Sheriff Dennis Pike, several past and present employees of the Franklin County Jail and “others presently unknown” as defendants. The plaintiffs’ complaints accuse the defendants of either directly damaging their health or, in the case of Pike and other employees in supervisory positions, of failing to adequately train and supervise corrections officers.
According to the plaintiffs’ complaints, Wing, Ayer and four other inmates were being held in a jail cell on the evening of Sept. 5. The facts of the incident, as laid out by the plaintiffs, indicate that Ayer was served a meal in the cell, which he shared with Wing and another inmate. The inmates claim that the meal, spaghetti and a veal patty “tasted odd,” but that they ate it anyway and then reported the odd taste to the corrections officers.
Later, the plaintiffs claim in the documents, they became “violently ill, with vomiting, suffering stomach aches and cramps, diarrhea, heartburn and gastro-intestinal distress.” A while later, a corrections officer arrived at their cell and “admitted that corrections officers had deliberately adulterated and contaminated their food, either with pepper spray, mace or some other noxious chemical.”
The suit claims the men were informed that the contamination had been deliberate, as a “trick.” It goes on to allege that a corrections supervisor came to the cell and threatened the three inmates with “retaliation” if they reported the incident. Ayer and Wing also allege they were sick for several weeks, denied medical treatment and were in fact retaliated against for filing requests for medical attention.
“As a result of reporting this incident, several corrections officers retaliated, setting other inmates against [them], attempting to instigate fights with other inmates, making threats to damage [their] property and otherwise threatening and harassing [them],” the suit reads. It goes on to state that this behavior continued until the men were released; Ayer in March 2009 and Wing in September 2009, and that the two men have suffered further health complications due to the alleged poisoning.
Both suits were filed by attorney Jonathan Hull of Damariscotta, who has requested jury trials for both of his clients. According to County Clerk Julie Magoon, the suits have been mailed to the County Commissioners Association, which provides the county’s insurance. That association has since forwarded the documents to legal counsel for review.
Pike declined comment Tuesday, as the matter is ongoing.
Every story has a moral; don’t do things that will land you in jail.
This seemed far fetched. Not sure if I believe it.
Poisoning, that’s a good idea. It would cut down on the jail population and save the county and US some money!
Why is it automatically assumed that because you’ve “landed in jail”, that you are 1) a liar, and 2) deserving of such treatment? Poisoning is a good way of dealing with the “jail population? REALLY!? I’ve heard that before, people deemed undesireable by society and poisoned, wasn’t his name HITLER? Just because you are in law inforcement doesn’t mean you are above reproach, and there have been stories like this circulating throughout Farmington for YEARS, and finally someone has come forward. It should be investigated thoroughly, just as any other case would be. Yes, every story has a moral, and usually you wait until the END of the story for it. You shouldn’t pass judgement til the end of this one.
I agree that prisoners should be treated by the rules. I also believe that criminals should not get away with domestic assault time after time. I find it sad that certain people feel they can beat up women and continue to get slapped on the hand and sent on there way.I have mixed feelings with this story because I believe in following the law but I also believe that some people get what they deserve if the above mentioned actually happened.
To think We the tax payers are paying for all this BS. Do you think Mr Wing and Mr Ayer are footing the bill for this bogus suit? No, We the tax payer are footing this bill. Knowing Mr Ayer, PERSONALLY, he is full of many false acusations in the past. It is NEVER his fault . Grow up boys and try to become productive citizens. Stop wasting MY hard earned money. Stop wasting our officer’s and court’s time. They have much more important things on their plate besides this BS. Enough is enough. You were in jail for crimes you committed. Get over it.
How much is too much. Birds of a feather stick together???
This is public record on Mr Ayer. Per Sun Journal
Robert R. Ayer, 35, New Sharon, criminal threatening with dangerous weapon on Aug. 1, 2007, and gross sexual assault, two counts of assault, stalking, criminal restraint on Aug. 23, 2007, sentenced on third, fourth and fifth charges to 364 days each; all other charges dismissed.
Maine Today.com reports this in the same article on boy of these “Fine” citizens.
FARMINGTON — Two men were indicted by a Franklin County grand jury Tuesday on unrelated charges that included sexual assaults and stalking.
Robert Ayer, 34, of New Sharon has been indicted on charges of felony gross sexual assault, criminal threatening with a gun, two counts of assault, stalking and criminal restraint involving a woman at his home on Hemlock Hollow Road.
Stephen A. Wing, 30, of Federal Row in Industry has been indicted on charges of attempted gross sexual assault, a felony; burglary; aggravated criminal trespass; unlawful sexual touching; assault and stalking involving a 15-year-old girl in Industry.
According to Franklin County Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson, the charges against Ayer stem from an investigation into an assault reported by emergency room personnel at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington after the woman was brought in for medical treatment.
Robinson said there were bruises and superficial wounds over much of her face and body and there were strangulation marks on her throat.
“This woman was isolated and was a victim of domestic violence,” he said. “The house is very remote; there was no phone except a cell phone. She had no way to leave and she was afraid she would be killed if she left.”
The woman finally fled on foot and was helped by a woman who was driving by, he said.
Wing’s indictment refers to incidents that occurred between Aug. 1 and Sept. 23. Police at the time said the girl, who was home sick with a fever and was asleep in her room, awoke to allegedly find Wing on top of her attempting to kiss and fondle her.
Her parents had just locked the door and left to get a prescription filled for her but they had turned back several minutes later to find Wing’s vehicle in the driveway and a chair outside the kitchen window, he said.
Their concern was that Wing, who is their landlord and who tends livestock in the area, had allegedly stalked the girl earlier and had looked in her window. They had also seen him nearby when they left, Robinson said.
When they entered the house, they could hear their daughter screaming, “Get off me!” A scuffle ensued between the two men before Wing left, he said.
How Reputable are these two men? in my book, not very. Public Caning would be great, let me hold the cane first!
why were my honest post to this subject removed? explain please
oops, sorry. disregard my last post. guess the others are still awaiting moderation
I think everyone needs to remember that sometimes people lie and sometimes the newspaper doesn’t tell the truth either! Everyone, get the whole story before you feel sorry for these guys.
There is no excuse for the crimes committed by these two men. However, if these officers are found guilty of this poisoning then what the hell kind of example is our law enforcement setting? Just because you hold a badge doesn’t mean you can do what you want. When someone who has taken an oath to protect and serve and even those who only protect and serve our jails, commit an act like this it is in MY opinion even worse than a normal citizen comiting the same crime. I pray that these accusations are made up because if this really happened then shame on our law enforcement. I will wait till the end of this story until I pass judgment though. I am not judging with these comments, simply just saying i hope that this isn’t true because of what a shame and embarrassment this would be for the town and county. I can say from my personal experience with being in jail for a whole 8 hours that detainees and prisoners are subject to harrassment. At least I can say for sure I was. To the point that it crossed the line of sexual harrassment from two of the “gaurds” as well. I didn’t complain however, because I knew that only I had put myself there. But even looking back on it now that still is no excuse to mistreat someone in jail. That is why I hope these accusations are not true in this case.
How about Maine adopt Sheriff Joe’s ideas! (Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona) Then WE the working Taxpayers wouldn’t be spending our hard earned money defending these predators of the innocent??!! Then, they could eat bologna sandwiches and earn their keep working on the chain gang. It is absolutly crazy that these people get FREE housing FREE medical and 3 square meals a day, when our elderly folks can’t aford their meds or medical treatments and don’t even think about free legal representation. As “why why why” has informed us, Mr.Ayer was suppose to get 3 years prison time for his crimes, how much money did his crime cost Maine taxpayers? And how much more are we going to allow these Criminals to cost us? Do Mr. Ayer and Mr Wing hold jobs where some of these expenses are being repaid to the taxpayers? Does Mr. Wing think praying on our youth is worthy of our footing his bills too?? As an American Taxpayer, I am getting tired of being the one to give up my rights, and my hard earned freedoms for these idiots that think we should carry their lazy butts (financially and morally) and beleive WE OWE THEM!! What do we owe them? NOTHING!…. IN GOD WE TRUST!!
Are you kidding me
I fully agree with you. My question is, When is the state of Maine going to get some Politicians that will make a differance for our botched system? Free medical, free dental, free meals, free legal…FREE FREE FREE. Did you know that a person who commits a crime such as Mr Ayers and Mr Wing does not serve but a fraction of their time, is released into “probation”, and then since they chose to do this revolting, heinous crime, and are punished by the system, they cry about how not one person will hire them and so they get state funded aide to pay their bills. Food stamp cards, and even cash on their food stamp cards to buy what they want. I bet they get a “MAINE CARE CARD” too. More free medical! YES, THEY DO! So, like Mr Wing, and that convitcted smudge to society Mr Ayer, not only ruined a young girls life and then used our taxpaying money to house their sorry butts, feed them, give them medical treatments and pay their lawyer fees, when they got out of jail they qualified for state aide because of the trash Mr Wing and Mr Ayer CHOOSE to be, noone will hire them. I would not hire either of them. nor work along side of them. I would leave a job that would hire trash like that to represent their company. The smudge to society that Mr Wing and Mr Ayer are, actually qualifies them for Mainers to continue to bail out their butts and pay their way,,,why? Because our lawmakers allow it to be. If you are convicted of such a crime like these boys were, no aide should be available to them. If they have no food, let them grow thier own. Or starve for all I care. Some may think I have no heart. It is far from that. I have no TOLERANCE for crime, crimals, rapist, murders, theives and all the other trash convicted animals these people are. I doubt their case is even close to the truth. It may stem from a harmless prank. Hell both of these men think of Franklin county Jail as a hotel. They knew all the guards by name. Knowing both of these men, I do not think this happened as they state. Again, they, in my opinion, feel like this is another free ride for them. On us, The Maine Taxpayer. I am just tired of it. If for some reason it does come out true. if it did happen. Then fine, Punish those involved, but by no means should either of these trash infected men get another penny out of our pockets. NOT ONE PENNY. It would make me sick to think they could profit anything from this.
That is my opinion.