Child endangerment charges have been dropped in the case against a court-appointed child visitation supervisor for the Fairfield woman who last year fled from Waterville to South Carolina with her three children.

Jennifer Dore, of Benton, was supervising a visit Aug. 15, 2013, of BethMarie Retamozzo with two of her children when Retamozzo drove away from Drummond Avenue with the children at high speed and was lost in traffic, police said at the time.

District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said she dismissed the case because there was not enough evidence against Dore to go to trial.

When Retamozzo, 34, of Fairfield, left Waterville with the children, she did not have custody of two of them, ages 6 and 7, but did have custody of her 2-year-old.

After Retamozzo and the children were found in South Carolina, Dore, 37, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Dore did not report the abduction to police, even when authorities contacted her five hours later.

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Retamozzo’s children eventually were reported missing by their grandmother. Retamozzo and the children later were found sleeping at a rest stop on Interstate 95 in Hendersonville, S.C., and she was arrested. Waterville police went to South Carolina to bring Retamozzo back to Maine.

Retamozzo is scheduled to go to trial in October on two charges of criminal restraint by a parent, according to Maloney, district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties.

Maloney said Friday that she met with Dore and her attorney, Ken Lexier, to discuss Dore’s case.

The prosecutor said she made the decision not to go forward with the prosecution after the meeting with Dore.

“She (Dore) was very forthcoming with everything that happened that day and everything leading up to it,” Maloney said. “After that meeting, I decided we did not have sufficient evidence to go forward.”

Maloney also went over the evidence in the case, spoke with another attorney in her office and spoke with a witness. She said she needed to prove that Dore was involved in what Retamozzo did, but became convinced she could not prove that. She dismissed the charges Thursday.

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Lexier, a Skowhegan attorney, praised Maloney’s decision, saying she showed “that she’s really interested in justice.”

“Jennifer Dore is truly innocent,” Lexier said. “I don’t mean just on technical terms, or the police maybe didn’t do things right or the state can’t meet its burden of proof. I mean she’s truly innocent, and I know I can’t say that about every person I represent who is charged with a crime.

“She was used by this woman (Retamozzo) and she got caught up in a whirlwind. She had nothing to do with it and gratefully, Maeghan Maloney, being the type of person she is and interested in doing justice, realized that and agreed to dismiss the charge.”

Lexier said Dore is a “terrific” mother and person and is overjoyed about the dismissal. She and her husband had taken in a foster child and had planned to adopt the child, but after the charges were lodged against her last year, the state took that child away, Lexier said.

“It was an incredible loss for Jen, not to mention the fact that she’s been carrying those charges around,” he said.

Dore, now 38, was an acquaintance of Retamozzo’s family and had been chosen by all parties as someone who would be an appropriate visitation supervisor, police said after the abduction last year. Dore was not employed by the state or acting in any professional capacity when she supervised the visits. She also was not paid.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17


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