Police Officer Who Allegedly Refused to Cooperate After Suspicious Turn in Missing Person Case Has Been Charged with a Crime
A police officer in Washburn, Maine, has come under scrutiny after refusing to aid his fellow officers in an investigation into his activities, according to The Associated Press.
Washburn Police Sgt. Chandler Cole resigned from the department in February and was arrested a month later on charges of aggravated forgery, tampering with public records or information, falsifying physical evidence and unsworn falsification, the report said.
According to the AP, the charges are related to the case of a missing person who was last seen walking on a road on Jan. 30.
Authorities say Cole told at least two different stories about when he last saw Eric Foote. He is also accused of illegally altering his official police report to reflect one of those claims.
The 54-year-old Cole was arrested by the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office, which took over the missing persons case after Cole left too many contradictory questions in the case, according to the AP.
The whole case has perplexed the Washburn police, the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office and residents of the town of about 1,500 people.
As far as anyone can tell, Cole was the last person to see Foote alive — but he has given different accounts of what happened in that final meeting, The County reported.
The Washburn Police Department in Maine was investigating Foote’s disappearance and even hired a private investigator to track down the facts after placing Cole on paid administrative leave when his stories didn’t add up.
For instance, Cole reportedly told his fellow officers that he picked Foote up when he saw the 39-year-old walking down the road in Presque Isle on Jan. 30. He then said that from there, he dropped Foote off at a local convenience store.
However, Foote’s father says Cole told him Foote was dropped off at a hospital.
Washburn investigators also say Cole altered his official report to reflect the claim that he dropped the man off at the hospital.
In the meantime, Cole would not cooperate with his fellow officers as they investigated Foote’s disappearance, according to police.
“The investigator tried to interview him. On Feb. 23, he refused to meet with the investigator. It was a couple of days after that that he called me and resigned,” Washburn Police Chief Cyr Martin told reporters.
Former Washburn Police Sgt. Chandler Cole, 54, was arrested by the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office last month following an investigation surrounding the missing person case of Erik Foote, 39, of Washburn. https://t.co/uBdIRgm5u8
— WABI_TV5 (@WABI_TV5) April 10, 2024
On Feb. 8, the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office took over the investigation into Foote’s disappearance and Cole’s intransigence.
“We ended up finding some information through that investigation that led us to believe there was a criminal course of conduct that Mr. Cole ended up participating in, and we requested a warrant for his arrest,” Sheriff Peter Johnson said.
Cole was arrested and levied with a $2,500 unsecured bail, meaning he is free on his own recognizance but will forfeit the bail if he does not show up for court on May 8.
Johnson said his deputies have spent countless hours trying to locate the missing man and taken some 80 trips to the town to interview 30 people and they are still investigating.
“We are still following up on a few other things,” the sheriff said. “We have a few electronic devices that we’re looking into to see if that might give us direction.”
The town is considering eliminating the whole police department. Martin soon will retire, Cole has resigned and the town’s other officer has taken a job in another department.
In the meantime, the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office is policing the town.
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