SKOWHEGAN — Jason Gayne says he has done everything he is supposed to do while on probation.

The former head of two Skowhegan nonprofit organizations has paid the $70,000 in restitution he was ordered to pay when he pleaded guilty in 2024 to stealing thousands from the two groups.

Gayne has completed hundreds of hours of community service, well beyond what he was ordered to do. He has focused on providing for his family. And he has never violated the conditions of his probation.

“Accountability was important to me, and I wanted to make sure that I filled every responsibility placed upon me by this court,” Gayne told a judge Tuesday.

Now Superior Court Chief Justice Robert E. Mullen will determine whether to approve Gayne’s request for an early end to his probation. Gayne’s request, if granted, would effectively shave two years from the term included in his sentence.

Mullen heard brief arguments from Gayne, a probation officer and a prosecutor Tuesday afternoon at the Somerset County Superior Court. Each had a different take on the case.

Mullen, however, did not rule on the request, in part because clerks had not scanned the case file into the court’s new electronic filing system or retrieved the original paper file ahead of the hearing.

Mullen said once he reviews the records in the file, he aims to make a decision by Friday.

Gayne, 39, of Athens, was convicted in January 2024 of stealing thousands from the Skowhegan Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Hospice Volunteers of Somerset County. Gayne was executive director of the chamber of commerce from 2016 to 2022 and executive director of the hospice volunteers from 2014 to 2022. A grand jury indicted him and police arrested him in August 2022.

Through a deal with prosecutors, approved by leaders of both organizations, Gayne pleaded guilty to one count of theft by unauthorized taking and one count of theft by deception. Prosecutors dismissed three other counts of theft by unauthorized taking and two counts of forgery.

Prosecutors outlined evidence they said would have showed Gayne took out a credit card in the chamber’s name and used it for more than $29,000 in personal expenses; used chamber funds to pay personal credit cards in an amount over $95,000; and paid off a personal credit card in an amount more than $50,000 using a Hospice Volunteers credit card.

Gayne technically entered an Alford plea to the two counts, meaning he maintained his innocence but recognized the state could provide sufficient evidence for a judge or jury to find him guilty.

Per the agreement, Mullen sentenced Gayne on the first theft count to five years in prison, with all but nine months suspended, to be served in a county jail, followed by three years of probation. On the second count, Gayne got two years in prison, all suspended, plus one year of probation to run consecutive to the sentence on the first count.

In effect, the sentence totaled nine months in jail and four years of probation. Gayne could be ordered to serve the suspended prison time if found to violate his probation.

Gayne was also ordered to pay $70,000 in restitution to the two organizations, $50,000 of which he paid at the time of entering the plea agreement. Gayne was ordered to pay the remaining $20,000 over his probation period and to complete 50 hours of community service per year during that time.

He’s done all that, according to everyone who spoke in court Tuesday. 

Gayne, representing himself, filed his motion to terminate probation in May.

He is about two years into the four total included in his sentence.

Probation officer Tyler Regan said he had no position on terminating the first three years of probation that are part of the sentence on the first count early. But he objected to terminating the year on the second count’s sentence because it was ordered to run consecutively and therefore has not started yet. 

Assistant District Attorney Bonnie Ingram objected to Gayne’s request altogether, calling the crimes he committed serious and an “abuse of position of trust.”

Ingram highlighted the large amount of money stolen. She called the $70,000 in restitution ordered a conservative estimate of the total figure authorities believe Gayne stole. Prosecutors said previously the chamber and hospice volunteers had agreed to that amount for restitution, which was less than the amount prosecutors said they had evidence to prove Gayne stole.

Gayne read prepared remarks in court, outlining his compliance with probation and paying restitution. 

He said he has become a deacon at the Christ Community Fellowship, a church in Madison, and volunteers with the Skowhegan Community Food Cupboard. He submitted letters of support from his pastor and the food pantry, as well as a log of about 360 recorded volunteer hours.

“I understand that early termination of probation is not a right,” Gayne said, “and I respect the state’s objection to my request; however, I respectfully submit that the goals of probation in my case have been achieved.”