Maine sheriff’s fate rests with governor after commissioners call for his firing

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Gov. Janet Mills plans to act within “a reasonable amount of time” on whether to remove a sheriff accused of improprieties following the completion of two days of hearings Wednesday, a spokesperson said.

Former Supreme Judicial Court Justice Donald Alexander, who presided over the sessions Monday and Wednesday, will make a recommendation whether Oxford County Sheriff Christopher Wainwright should be fired, but the final decision lies with the governor.

Wainwright has been accused of urging a deputy to go easy on an acquaintance cited for a traffic violation, letting two school resource officers carry guns even though they lacked the necessary certifications and transferring dozens of guns from an evidence locker to a dealer for sale without proper notification or documentation.

The sheriff, who was was elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022, said he believed he had the authority to sell the guns and did not benefit from the transaction. He also said that he was not involved in the hiring of the school resource officers in 2018, when he was chief deputy, and that he made a mistake in intervening in the traffic ticket.

The county commission took the unusual step of asking the governor to remove Wainwright, saying in a 10-page complaint that he is “unworthy” of the office. The last time a governor removed a sheriff is believed to have been in 1926, when a Kennebec County sheriff for allegedly violating Prohibition law.

Mills spokesperson Ben Goodman said she “hopes to act within a reasonable amount of time” after receiving the recommendation.