GARDINER — Police have declined to release details of the city’s investigation into alleged wrongdoing by the Rev. Jacob Fles.

Church officials placed Fles, of Christ Episcopal Church, on administrative leave while the Episcopal Diocese of Maine investigates allegations of misconduct.

Gardiner Police Chief James Toman has said his department investigated allegations against Fles but closed the investigation “without there being any proof that anything illegal happened.”

The city recently rejected two requests made by The Kennebec Journal under the state’s Freedom of Access law to release details of the investigation, including the name of the complainant and the nature of the allegation.

Heidi Shott, an Episcopal Diocese of Maine spokeswoman, said Tuesday the status of the investigation hasn’t changed since last week.

“It’s a process that has a life of its own,” Shott said. “It will be finished when it’s finished. We have no idea how long it will take. We just don’t know.”

City attorney Erik Stumpfel said that because the police investigation found no wrongdoing, it is sealed to the public.

“If it qualifies as a nonconviction. It’s not subject to disclosure laws,” Stumpfel said.

Bishop Stephen Lane has said Fles’ paid administrative leave will continue until an investigation by the diocese has reached a final resolution.

Lane said the complaint alleges “specific instances of conduct, which, if true, would constitute one or more offenses under the church’s disciplinary canons.”

In the letter, Lane urged people to refrain from making judgments or statements about the matter “based on rumor or hearsay.”

Fles, who has declined to comment, has conducted services at Christ Episcopal Church — at the corner of Gardiner Common on Dresden Avenue — for 17 years. He is married and has three children.

In a blog posting in February, Fles wrote his position had been cut to half-time as of June 1 — the same day he returned from an 18-month medical leave to undergo a liver transplant in which his daughter was his donor.

“Besides half salary, that means having to pay for half utilities and health insurance,” Fles wrote. “In my youth, I thought job security was part of the clergy job description. They will always need a priest, I thought. Even in the most dire of circumstances, the church will continue and a clergy person will always have a place to serve.”

Shott said the cut was a budgeting move — one of five cases statewide in which the rector position within the diocese was downgraded from full time to part time.

“It has been a trend in many denominations,” Shott said. “Many ministers are being moved to part time. It’s not uncommon. Churches have really taken a hit. It’s not particular to Christ Church in Gardiner.

“As our bishop likes to say, ‘It’s not 1959 anymore.’ The way people do church is changing.”

Mechele Cooper — 621-5663

[email protected]