The Mexico Police Department was disbanded in August 2024 and police coverage is now in the hands of the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO). Learn more about some of the OCSO history here.
Maine Deadly Force Review Panel Scrutinizes Police Shootings in Rural Maine (Oxford County)
You can’t imagine how this makes us feel. We watched some shady sh*t go down in Oxford County and we feel validated that at least someone is taking a look at the police shootings in this rural Maine area. We had traumatic run ins with the Rumford Police Department (R.P.D.) and a documented abusive police officer during a mental health crisis in 2010. This same rogue police officer shot a suicidal woman with mental illness brandishing a knife in 2014. The Maine Attorney General has ruled that every police officer involved shooting is justified. We are glad to see that a Deadly Force Review Panel was another layer of investigation added in a state that appears to take a stand for the authorities, not citizens.
We both have brain injuries and the lack of healthcare in Maine would render us helpless and dependent on the VA healthcare system until we found out what was wrong with us. The fact that we couldn’t get any treatment no matter how many times we begged for it created mental health issues out of our control until we got the treatment we needed to lower inflammation levels in the brain. As a result of these disabilities, we were vulnerable to those who abused their power and treated someone with mental health struggles more like a drain on society as opposed to a person with traumatic experiences and mental health issues who needs help. Jennifer and Lee are two years into treatment in California where the brain inflammation was discovered by a rare disorder doctor specializing in autoimmune dysfunction. The healthcare in California far surpasses the low quality healthcare in Maine.
Jennifer’s introduction to the Rumford Police Department in 2009 was gang bullying and one of the officers saying to her online “go kill herself like your father did” on a local “Support the Police” Facebook page. No one other than family and the R.P.D. knew that he died by suicide. Jennifer was one of many targeted for getting involved and having an opinion about the town budget. In the end, the Rumford Police Department would retaliate against those on the Finance Committee who recommended the budget cuts. The townspeople approved the Finance Committee’s recommendation and voted to reduce the police department’s bloated budget in this dying mill town. As a result, abusers who stalked Jennifer to harm her credibility as a step-parent and a veteran advocate learned that this police department wasn’t a fan of hers because of her recommendations to cut the budget.
Lee’s ex-wife and some veteran “advocates” used this information in an attempt to harm Lee and Jennifer. We now know these kind of criminals are considered narcissistic abusers and in our case, they committed federal across state line crimes. Lee’s ex-wife in the heat of a custody battle gaslit him into a mental health crisis and suicidal meltdown when she threatened to keep his two boys from him. The kids told their mother he was not doing well and she called the police department and accused him of domestic violence against Jennifer. They arrested Lee and placed a restraining order on him forcing him into homelessness. Lee didn’t know anyone in Maine. Jennifer was the target for her stance on crime policy in the U.S. military and two female veterans used the suicidal veteran narrative to swat Jennifer and trip her up the night before a congressional vote on a bill she fought for and introduced.
Now that healthcare has brought us back to life and we are evaluating how we got here, we cannot believe that any of this happened to us. This is a perfect example of two disabled veterans being taken advantage of when we were at our most vulnerable before we even had the time to reach out for help. We were in the process of a medical retirement when the ex-wife swatted us with the cops and her false allegations of domestic abuse. We were so severely disabled at the time of Lee’s false arrest that we were unable to cope and would have to give up fighting for shared custody of the children to prevent abuse, false accusations, harassment from the police, and suicide. We were not doing well after a life time of trauma, a stop loss in the Air Force, and no healthcare. Jennifer’s introduction to Lee’s ex-wife was a post on the “Support the Police” Facebook page claiming Jennifer “faked PTSD to get out of deploying to Iraq” when in fact both Lee and Jennifer were kicked out for medical reasons.
As a result, Jennifer’s veteran advocacy was her taking the power back from the bitter ex-wife who lied about her honorable 15 years of service. Jennifer told her story to the media and also testified to the House Armed Services Committee in January 2013. A few months later after introducing a bill associated with her testimony, she would be gang bullied by some folks in a documentary for over a year. They didn’t like the bill but then stole the bill and called it their own. The night before the vote on the bill she introduced, she was swatted by these same jealous, petty abusers who wanted to take out the competition and ride off into the sunset with her bill and all her work. They knew that she was deathly afraid of the R.P.D. for good reason and the cops showed up to the house under the cover of darkness with guns drawn on us. Jennifer was forced into the police cruiser and taken to the local emergency room for an evaluation. She was quickly released and two weeks later the documented abusive cop shot a suicidal woman with mental illness.
The abusive cop terrorizing us in our home and turning a mental health crisis into a domestic altercation is a testament to the broken mental health care system, the lack of treatment for brain injuries in Maine, and cops who abuse their power and no one can do anything about it thanks to home rule law. After we got swatted and the abusive cop shot the suicidal woman with mental illness, we went into hiding and we would go without healthcare for the next 8 years while we downward spiraled into debilitation and death. We are scared of the police because of what this small town in Maine did to us. We wish we never set foot in Rumford and we can’t believe the audacity of these bad actors tripping people up over a VOLUNTEER position. Lee was in a deep depression grieving the loss of his two kids. I didn’t have a husband for years after these incidents but we never gave up on each other. We rode out survival mode and minimized risks at all costs to keep us safe and out of the hands of the Rumford P.D. to save our lives until we could get the f*ck out of there.
Two police shootings in Mexico that Maine’s Attorney General ruled justified are now under new scrutiny.
The Maine Deadly Force Review Panel has issued reports on both shootings.
12/10/2024: Deadly Force Review Panel Report: Mexico, October 13, 2022
12/10/2024: Deadly Force Review Panel Report: Mexico, August 31, 2022
“In all, there are 18 open deadly force cases across the state, spanning from June 2018 to Thursday. Deadly force cases include events that don’t necessarily result in death, but force used could have caused death.”
Neighbors ‘frightened’ after second police shooting in 2 months in Mexico (notice the neighbors aren’t afraid of the accused, they are afraid of the cops)
Read here: Mexico police shootings under scrutiny from Maine Deadly Force Review Panel
Our Story:
–Citizen Complaint to Attorney General: Overview of Police Officer’s Disturbing History Prior to Connection in Officer Involved Shooting of A Suicidal Woman With Mental Illness
–Maine Newspaper & Police Department Leaders Assist Documented Abusive Police Officer in Dehumanization of Disabled Veterans and Kids During a Mental Health Crisis
–“Veteran Advocates” Use Defamatory Newspaper Article & the Cops Who Created the Narrative to Bounce Medically Retired Disabled Veterans Out of Washington DC
–Maine Police Shootings of Individuals with Mental Illness: Recent Incidents and Concerns
Related Links:
Reportedly suicidal woman shot by Rumford cop
Deadly Force Review Panel Reports Archive
Pittsfield man killed after standoff with Maine State Police
Maine woman shot and killed by Topsham Police suffered gunshot wound to head
Maine man involved in police confrontation died of multiple gunshot wounds
Three police shootings in Maine ruled ‘justified’
Man shot by police in Mexico expected to survive
Armed man shot by police in Mexico, suspect expected to survive
October police shooting of armed man in Mexico ruled justified
Neighbors ‘frightened’ after second police shooting in 2 months in Mexico
A Maine Sheriff Resigned After Sexting His Officers. The Full Story Is Even Darker.
Jennifer and Lee 