An informant made a drug buy from the man’s juvenile son.
PORTLAND – A decision in U.S. District Court on Tuesday kept alive a Woodstock man’s claims that he was falsely arrested by a state trooper and maliciously prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Office.
John E. Cox III, 38, of 178 Perkins Valley Road claims he was wrongfully arrested on a charge of aggravated drug trafficking May 9, 2001, by Trooper John Hainey.
According to police documents, Norway police Sgt. Rob Federico and Hainey set up a monitored purchase of the painkiller Roxicodone, which Cox was prescribed, but Cox was not home so a police informant made the buy from his juvenile son April 28.
Based on items obtained through a search warrant May 9 and an informant claiming a prior marijuana sale by Cox, past marijuana and paraphernalia arrests of Cox, and an improper count of Cox’s prescription pills, Hainey arrested Cox.
The charge was eventually dropped.
Cox sued Hainey for false arrest and the Oxford County DA’s office for malicious prosecution and infliction of emotional distress.
On Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge David M. Cohen denied parts of a motion for summary judgment filed by William R. Fisher of the Maine Attorney General’s Office, who is defending Hainey and the DA’s office. The motion is similar to a request to dismiss the case.
“What happens in theory now is that the defense can appeal the magistrate judge’s decision prior to going to trial,” said Timothy Zerillo, who represents Cox. “If that does not happen, the case will be heard in U.S. District Court in Portland.”
jsmedley@sunjournal.com
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