I’ve been living in Lewiston for about 6 years, and working as a housecleaner. I'm doing a fundraiser to reach me GOOL (Get Out Of Lewiston). I’ve committed no crime, not even a misdemeanor, but was arrested on 3-24-25, 3-30-25, 7-17-25, 9-02-25, and 10-08-25.
In the beginning of March, Judge John Martin issued a temporary protection order after someone, who I can't name or I'll be arrested again, claimed that I had harassed them. On March 24 I called the police station to ask why officers had come to my apartment a few days earlier. A woman named Connie said I could pick up a report. I brought my friend with me. There was no report and I was arrested for violating the temporary protection order. My friend recorded the arrest; I left my phone with her, worried they'd take it. I didn't know her number by heart, and had to walk home, two miles in a major snowstorm that day.
On March 30, 2025, five officers destroyed my apartment door with a battering ram when I resisted what I knew was another wrongful arrest, despite that a judge granted a warrant. I was not a threat to anyone…not by my words or actions. I made an audio recording with my Ipad, and when police entered I covered it with a towel and got on my Iphone to call my husband, Pete, who was 300 miles away in Aroostook County where we own property. An officer grabbed my phone and hung up on him; imagine how worried he was when he heard the officer's voices and wasn't able to get back in touch with me.
They released me after midnight, two miles from my apartment, and didn't give my phone back. They had no warrant, no legal right to take and keep it. When I finally got home, I used my Ipad and the Find My feature to ping my phone to downtown Lewiston. I drove to my landlord's office and told the secretary what happened and that I'd need a new door. Then I walked up and down Main Street and finally pinged it to the Resiliency Center which opened after the mass shooting in the autumn of 2023. I walked in and asked a woman what else was in the building. “On the fourth floor is the district attorney’s office,” she said. Aha, of course.
By then it was near 5 pm. The next day I went to the D.A.'s office. You can't get in unless you're buzzed in; I arrived at the same time another woman did and I snuck in with her. I stood there while she took care of business. The receptionist must have thought I was with her; then I asked if my phone was there, and she said it wasn't...liar. Within days I emailed District Attorney Neil McLean Jr., asking for it back, but got no reply.
Hoping to get the help of City of Lewiston officials I went to a city council meeting that was held on April 1...no kidding. I mentioned the breaching of my door to the entire council, the mayor, and the new administrator, but got no assistance. I kept a piece of the door and made a sign that I take to rallies.
I went again on 7-15-25 and handed the chief of police, David St. Pierre, my complaint of excessive force; he was in plain clothes. The following day there were officers at my door to arrest me. St. Pierre soon announced his retirement...but has since been given another job in law enforcement as a U.S. Marshal for Maine.
The warrant for my arrest had been issued since June 12, after I failed to appear for my arraignment in Wiscasset District Court; however the court had yet to appoint me an attorney. Also I'd called to tell them I had an obstruction in my eye and was 4 hours away...I couldn't drive to get there at 8:30, not without endangering my life and that of other motorists! Bail was quoted at $1500 at first, but that was wrong. After calling the court and finding out it was $500, I turned myself in, and was released after several hours.
Then on 9-02-25, I was arrested again, outside city hall after attending the meeting (pictured above) to honor the retiring chief. It wasn't for giving him the finger, or failing to stand when everyone else did that I was arrested. No, it was because I reposted a story that was already in the public. Again, excessive force was used...my purse strap cut with a knife when the officer could have removed one handcuff and slid it down my arm. It was only after this arrest that I was appointed an attorney.
When I mentioned what happened to me in a Facebook group, Lewiston Rocks, I got alot of criticism…from people who don’t even know me, my accuser, or the situation. There's an epidemic of cognitive dissonance in this country.
On the afternoon of 10-08-25, I went to the police station and made another complaint, regarding the excessive force used in the arrest in September. The officer who took it couldn't make a copy for me because he'd just been called to an emergency: an explosion or fire at the former Schmengees which had been turned into a warming center after the mass shooting there and at a bowling alley across town. A total of 18 people were killed. The officer I handed my complaint to told me there was another warrant for my arrest but that he couldn't do it because he had to go to the fire. And this time when they came, the warrant was sealed. So what did they do? Officers enlisted the help of a citizen: my landlord.
In January, 2026 I attended a meeting at the library in Lewiston, with the new chief. https://www.sunjournal.com/2026/01/12/lewiston-police-chief-city-administrator-to-hold-leadership-and-safety-forum-this-week/
And I spoke to Lt. Derrick St. Laurent. I asked him to look into the complaints I'd filed. He told me that they didn't have a complaint from July 15, which I'd handed to the chief who retired soon after; and he said that an officer's body camera footage proved my Iphone wasn't taken. "Really? Then how did it get to the district attorney's office?" I asked him. There hasn't been a proper investigation of any of the instances of excessive force.
I live less than a mile from the center of the city. We hear gunfire quite often. The increase in crime here is not the main reason I want to leave; it's the City of Lewiston's unwillingness to address the lack of accountability in it's police department, and the now very stressed relationship between my landlord and I.
