LEWISTON — A judge issued an order against Seth Carey, a suspended attorney and Republican candidate for district attorney, barring him from having any contact with a woman who claimed to be his ex-girlfriend.
The Auburn woman filed a protection from abuse order against Carey last week, accusing him of stalking her by parking in her driveway, approaching her at the gym, texting her and following her car.
Carey denied most of the accusations, admitting he had greeted the woman at the gym and sent her text messages seeking friendship.
The woman wrote in a sworn statement that she was “scared for my safety,” because “he has been known to hurt people who walk away from him.”
A Nov. 9 hearing is scheduled in 8th District Court in Lewiston to determine whether the order should become permanent.
Carey said he hadn’t decided whether to argue his case at that hearing.
Violating the terms of the order is a Class D crime, punishable by up to six months in jail.
In the temporary order, Judge Paul Eggert barred Carey from imposing any restriction upon the woman and must not threaten, assault, molest, harass or otherwise disturb her peace. Carey may not follow her or be in the vicinity of her home, school or workplace, under the order.
The woman asked the judge to force Carey to return all documents to her and “delete all pictures and not share any prints of pictures involving me.” She wrote that Carey is withholding the documents to use them “with malicious intent to harm me.”
In his order, Eggert wrote that Carey is “prohibited from engaging in the unauthorized dissemination of certain private images.”
In April, a Superior Court Justice put Carey on interim suspension after a District Court judge granted a permanent protection from abuse order to a different woman, who testified that Carey had sexually assaulted her on three occasions while she lived in a spare bedroom at his Rumford house.
Superior Court Justice Thomas Warren ruled in a Portland court last month that Carey violated several Maine Bar rules, including unlawful conduct stemming from his unwanted sexual advances involving that woman, who lives in Rumford.
A Nov. 14 hearing is scheduled for arguments on how Carey should be sanctioned for violating those bar rules.
Meanwhile, Carey continues to campaign for district attorney for District 3, which includes Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties.
In her statement last week, the Auburn woman wrote that Carey had lied about his age: 43. She said he gave his age as 36; she is in her early 20s.
She said she has taken steps to avoid any possible interaction with him, including incurring the additional expense of hiring Uber “to avoid walking to and from school because I am afraid of his stalkerish behaviors.”
Carey said Monday that the woman had been a campaign volunteer and was never his girlfriend.
“Another false allegation from a disturbed, sick individual two weeks before the election,” he said. “I haven’t spoken to her since before the primary in June when I said I don’t need her help anymore.”
He likened the Auburn woman and the Rumford woman who secured a protection from abuse order against Carey last spring to black widow spiders who lure their prey by being charming.
He said he’d like to tell his side of the story, but, “the problem is that judges erroneously give credence to false charges with no proof or evidence, which gives others the incentive to file their own claims to add meaning to their lives.”
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
Seth Carey (Sun Journal file photo)
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