WATERVILLE — Former Waterville Senior High School principal Don Reiter remains under investigation by authorities in New Hampshire more than a year after allegations surfaced that he had inappropriate relationships with students while working as an educator in that state.
That claim surfaced after Reiter, a former educator in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, was fired in 2015 from the Waterville position for allegedly asking an 18-year-old student for sex. Waterville police also investigated the student’s allegation and forwarded its findings to the Kennebec County District Attorney’s Office.
Last Oct. 13, Reiter surrendered his Maine state teaching credentials permanently in exchange for an agreement with the district attorney’s office to dismiss a criminal charge of official oppression against him.
New Ipswich police Chief Tim Carpenter said in a phone interview Wednesday that Waterville police forwarded their reports in the case to New Ipswich police earlier this year.
“It’s still being investigated by us and we have not come to any conclusion on what direction the investigation is going to go,” Carpenter said. “I’m hoping we’re going to have this wrapped up within three weeks, in either direction.”
During the investigation of the Waterville case, police learned of similar allegations against Reiter by two former students at Mascenic Regional High School in New Ipswich, where Reiter worked from 1998 to 2004. He had been a teacher and an assistant principal there before becoming principal of Buckfield High School for three years, and then Waterville’s principal in 2007.
Bill Bonney, who was then detective-sergeant for Waterville police and now is deputy chief, traveled to New Hampshire in 2015 to interview the two former students after hearing of their allegations Nov. 12 that year. Bonney was at a conference in southern Maine and was approached by a former Mascenic student who said she had friends who had had inappropriate relationships with Reiter when he was at the New Hampshire school, according to a Waterville police news release at the time. Bonney also was contacted by two former students at Mascenic High who alleged or said they were familiar with inappropriate behavior that Reiter allegedly engaged in while at that high school — behavior “substantially similar to that alleged by the Waterville victim,” the release said at the time.
Reiter was placed on administrative leave Sept. 1, 2015, from Waterville Senior High after the 18-year-old senior alleged he called her into his office from class on the first day of school and asked her for sex.
According to Waterville police, one student said she had sex with Reiter just before or after she graduated from Mascenic and another former student said she had a romantic relationship with him. One student provided 147 pages of letters in which Reiter referenced their “taboo” relationship, police said.
Reiter was placed on administrative leave Sept. 1, 2015, from Waterville Senior High after the 18-year-old senior alleged he called her into his office from class on the first day of school and asked her for sex. Melissa Hewey, attorney for the school district, said later at a dismissal hearing for Reiter that he had said to the student, “Every year I choose one student to have sex with, and this year I’ve picked you.”
In an interview Nov. 7 that year with a Morning Sentinel reporter, Reiter adamantly denied the allegation, saying he “did not do anything wrong.” Reiter and his attorney during the Waterville dismissal hearings, Gregg Frame, later said that the student had placed her hand on Reiter’s thigh and said, “I find you very attractive.”
Waterville schools Superintendent Eric Haley and Assistant Superintendent Peter Thiboutot conducted an in-house investigation, and then the Waterville Board of Education ultimately voted at a public dismissal hearing to fire Reiter, who was being paid $102,000 annually in the 2015-16 school year. At the time of his firing, Reiter was 45 years old and a resident of Mount Vernon.
A call placed to Reiter’s cellphone seeking comment Wednesday was not immediately returned, while the number for what had been his home phone in Mount Vernon in 2015 bore a message saying the phone had been disconnected or was no longer in service.
The Kennebec County District Attorney’s Office filed a charge of official oppression against Reiter late in 2015 after the Waterville police conducted a criminal investigation into his case. Official oppression, a misdemeanor, aims to hold those in positions of authority accountable for their actions. Reiter had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said last year that Reiter agreed to allow Maine authorities to share results of Waterville search warrants with police and school officials in New Hampshire. Waterville police had executed search warrants on Reiter’s personal computer and his phone.
Maloney did not return an email immediately Wednesday asking if Reiter is prohibited from teaching or being a school administrator in states other than Maine.
Reiter’s attorney, Walter McKee, said after the charge of official oppression was dismissed against Reiter that he had no plans to teach again and was instead working in another field.
“We would have loved nothing more than to challenge this case at trial — not only as to what happened but also as to whether there was even a crime here,” McKee said at the time. “But it is hard to turn down a complete dismissal.”
McKee on Wednesday said in an email that his earlier comment still stands.
He also said he would check with Reiter to see if he wanted to offer any further comment.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
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