PARIS — A former Auburn lawyer and one-time district attorney candidate denied Tuesday half a dozen charges stemming from allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman living at his Rumford home in 2018.
Two of the six charges are felonies, the more serious punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Seth Carey Oxford County Sheriff’s Office photo
Seth Carey, 46, of Rumford was in Oxford County Superior Court Tuesday to answer the charges from an August indictment.
A grand jury handed up two felony charges of criminal attempt as well as misdemeanor charges of unlawful sexual contact, two counts of domestic violence assault and a charge of engaging in prostitution.
Carey pleaded not guilty to all charges.
He remains free on $2,000 cash bail after his arrest in Florida in March.
In July, he filed a motion to dismiss the charges. In his motion, he expressed his intention to seek reinstatement to the Maine Bar as a licensed attorney. He also referenced his intention of running again for district attorney of Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties.
He lost a race in 2018 to incumbent District Attorney Andrew Robinson.
In 2018, a 34-year-old woman who had been living in Carey’s Rumford home as a tenant successfully sought a protection from abuse order, alleging he had sexually assaulted her.
That suspension expires the end of December.
In his motion, Carey claims his prosecution is “vindictive and suspicious,” citing the passage of three years before charges were brought against him.
Those charges stem from allegations brought in 2018 and no new evidence has been gathered since then, according to the motion.
In 2019, he was charged with the misdemeanor crime of unauthorized practice of law and later reached an agreement with prosecutors.
A prosecutor, an assistant attorney general, had told Carey’s attorney, James Howaniec, that he wasn’t aware of any other legal action being sought by the state against Howaniec’s client.
Carey argued in his motion that the state is prosecuting him again for conduct for which he has already answered in court.
“A defendant shall not be subject to separate trials for multiple offense based on the same conduct or arising from the same criminal episode if such offenses were known to the appropriate prosecuting officer,” his motion quotes state law.
“The current sex-crime prosecution against Mr. Carey also raises concerns about malicious prosecution,” the motion says, citing Carey’s intention to seek election to the DA’s office next year.
Oxford County Superior Court Justice Thomas McKeon said Tuesday that he hoped to have a hearing on Carey’s motion scheduled later this month.
Howaniec said Tuesday that he expects the case to go to trial.
Hancock County Assistant District Attorney Heather Staples said Tuesday, “It’s a definite trial.”
The case was transferred to the Hancock County District Attorney’s Office due to an apparent conflict of interest because Carey had run for DA of Oxford County, but the case continues to be prosecuted in Oxford County Superior Court.
The August indictment against Carey states that he attempted to force the woman who lived in his home into a sex act by grabbing her hair and pulling her face toward his crotch.
It was later reported during civil court hearings that he had tried to pay for her silence about the matter.
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