A lawyer for Don Reiter, former principal of Waterville Senior High School who was fired last year for allegedly asking a student for sex, and the Kennebec County District Attorney’s Office are trying to reach an agreement in the case.

Waterville police and the district attorney’s office filed a charge of official oppression against Reiter late last year. His defense attorney, Walter McKee, and Paul Cavanaugh, deputy district attorney, met with a Kennebec County judge Thursday at a dispositional conference that then was postponed until October to allow more time to work out details, according to District Attorney Maeghan Maloney.

The criminal case against former Waterville Senior High School Principal Don Reiter, seen here last November before his dismissal by the Waterville Board of Education, has been continued until October while his attorney and the Kennebec County District Attorney's Office work out an agreement. Reiter has been charged with a misdemeanor count of official oppression for allegedly propositioning a high school student. Staff file photo by David Leaming

“I do believe we’ll have an agreement, but all the details weren’t worked out today,” Maloney said Thursday.

Asked if an agreement is a settlement, McKee described it as an agreement that would result in a resolution of the case.

“We’re working on a potential agreement and the dispositional conference has been moved to Oct. 15,” he said.

Official oppression, a misdemeanor, is a charge that seeks to make educators and those in positions of authority accountable for their actions. Maloney said the investigation is ongoing until the case is concluded.

Waterville police in November learned of similar allegations about Reiter by two former students at Mascenic Regional High School in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, where Reiter worked from 1998 to 2004. Waterville police had planned to forward their report in the case to New Ipswich police Chief Timothy Carpenter, but Waterville police Chief Joseph Massey said Thursday that his department has not yet done so.

Massey said that records from a search of Reiter’s personal computer and phone were sealed and impounded, so police are prohibited from releasing them until they are unsealed by the court.

McKee on Thursday would not say where and how Reiter is or what he is doing.

Reiter was 44 and lived in Mount Vernon when he was fired Nov. 16 by the Waterville Board of Education after School Superintendent Eric Haley recommended he be fired and the board held hearings in the case. Haley and Assistant Superintendent Peter Thiboutot had conducted an in-house investigation into the allegation that Reiter asked an 18-year-old female student for sex Aug. 27, the first day of school, after calling her into his office from class.

Haley had placed Reiter on paid administrative leave Sept. 1. Reiter’s attorney at the time, Gregg Frame, said Dec. 16 last year that Reiter would not appeal the firing.

Maloney’s office, in conjunction with Waterville police, charged Reiter with official oppression last year after Waterville police conducted their investigation.

Initially, the charge was filed Nov. 19 but was delayed for a brief time because police got a warrant to search Reiter’s personal computer and phone records. That search took place Nov. 24, Massey said.

Maloney said she is not allowed to say what those records contain.

Waterville police Deputy Chief Bill Bonney learned of the New Hampshire allegations last year while he was attending a conference in southern Maine and one of the women approached him. He was detective sergeant for Waterville police at the time.

One former Mascenic student told police she had a sexual relationship with Reiter, and the other student said she had an inappropriate relationship with him when she was 17 and he sent her 147 pages of letters in which he professed his love of her and referred to their “taboo” relationship.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17

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