More than 10 years ago, three law enforcement officers used their positions of authority to threaten the owner of a Buxton limousine company. Yet only recently have they faced official consequences, and it appears no criminal charges will be filed in what public evidence shows was an egregious abuse of power.

In this case, justice moved far too slowly.

One of the officers, Wilfred “Bill” Vachon, a former York County Sheriff’s deputy, was stripped of his license last summer by the board of trustees at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. The two others, Joseph Fagone, a retired Portland police detective and investigator with the Department of Corrections, and Michael P. Hayes, a former York County sergeant, lost their licenses late last year, though the records were only made public in March.

The board of trustees found that all three committed official repression, when a public servant knowingly uses the power of their office to commit an unauthorized act that benefits them or someone else.

According to information in the board’s report, as well as in a 2017 federal lawsuit, and reported by the Press Herald, the issue dates back to 2011, when Fagone’s daughter hired a Buxton limousine company to give her and friends a ride back and forth to a concert in Massachusetts. When the party returned to the limo following the show, Fagone’s daughter said that cash and belongings were missing, blaming the limo driver. Fagone called Hayes at the York County Sheriff’s Office to report the limo company. 

Hayes did not relay the information to Buxton police, as he should have. Instead, Hayes and Vachon went to the home of the limo company’s owner, driving an unmarked car. Taking Fagone’s word that the limo company committed a crime, and without interviewing any witnesses, the officers told the owner to give the back the money, saying they wanted to handle it without taking him to jail.

When the man asked to call 911, the officers told him not to. When he did, they grabbed and handcuffed him, saying he was under arrest. They continued to lean on the man, berating him, calling him names, and insisting he give back the money.

Throughout the episode, the limo company owner and his wife denied the allegations. After an hour, the man was let out of handcuffs without any charges or summonses.

According to the lawsuit, about a week after the encounter, Fagone, then with the DOC, left a voicemail at the company identifying himself as a “detective with criminal investigations for the state of Maine” who was “working with Sergeant Hayes.” He then threatened criminal charges against them.

In 2017, the couple sued York County and the three officers and received an out-of-court settlement.

It was the lawsuit that first made the officers’ misconduct public. It triggered state and federal investigations, but prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges. All three officers continued to work in law enforcement before they each stepped down last year, just as the board at the criminal justice academy was preparing to revoke their licenses.

Having looked at the evidence, the board found that all three committed official repression. It also found that the actions of Sept. 1, 2011, met the definition of assault, criminal restraint and attempted theft by extortion.

Yet for another decade, all three continued to carry a badge — and all the power that comes with it. Even after the allegations surfaced in 2017, they were allowed to keep the authority they had so clearly abused.

When it comes to police misconduct, there must be consequences, and they must come far faster than in this case.

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