BREAKING NEWS: Hancock County DA was the subject of a sexual abuse investigation and then lied about it - Bangor Daily News
ELLSWORTH, Nov. 3, 2022 - The man running for reelection as the top prosecutor for Hancock and Washington counties was criminally investigated in 2017 and 2018 for allegedly sexually abusing a child, and then he lied about the investigation at a recent public forum, according to the Bangor Daily News.
Matthew Foster, a Republican running for a third term as district attorney, was asked during an Oct. 12 candidates forum whether he had ever been criminally investigated by the Maine attorney general’s office since becoming an attorney.
He answered, “No.”
The Bangor Daily News reported today that in October 2017, Kathleen Hinerman, who briefly lived with Foster in Ellsworth as a child, reported to the Maine State Police that Foster had touched her in an inappropriately sexual manner on multiple occasions when she was 13, she said.
The Office of the Maine Attorney General, the law enforcement agency that investigates public officials, took over the case and ultimately decided not to press charges.
Hinerman has stood by the allegations. In addition to police, she told others in recent years about the alleged abuse, including family members, lawyers, a therapist and a private investigator. Her descriptions of what happened were consistent in her interviews with the Bangor Daily News and records of past conversations.
Hinerman decided to come forward publicly after Foster denied the investigation at a candidate’s forum, which was hosted and live streamed by the League of Women Voters of Maine and local Hancock County newspapers.
Just to note: having a "consistent" story doesn't prove anything except that the story is consistent. And the DA shouldn't have lied, but it's easy to understand why he did.