AUBURN — A local man who pleaded guilty last week to sexually assaulting a female inmate while he was a corrections officer is expected back in court next week to answer a charge that he violated his bail by having contact with her at a Lewiston store.
Bret Butterfield, 23, of 56 East Waterman Road is expected to plead guilty to a charge that he violated the terms of his release, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Butterfield’s attorney, Neal Weinstein, said Monday that his client has accepted responsibility for his actions.
Although Butterfield’s actions last year were illegal because he was a corrections officer and the victim was an inmate at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, the sex was consensual, Weinstein said.
Maine law defines gross sexual assault to include a sex act where “the other person (who) is under official supervision as a … prisoner … and the actor has supervisory or disciplinary authority over the other person.”
Weinstein said he believes his client was manipulated and “he just used extremely bad judgment.”
Butterfield pleaded guilty to one charge each of sexual assault and violating condition of release in York and Cumberland counties, Weinstein said.
According to the terms of his plea agreement, he was sentenced to three years in prison, with all but six months suspended. When he is released, he will be on probation for two years.
He must register with the state as a sex offender. Butterfield voluntarily turned in his credentials from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, barring himself from serving in law enforcement again, Weinstein said.
Butterfield had no criminal history before these charges, Weinstein said.
Although he hasn’t finalized the plea agreement with the Androscoggin County District Attorney’s Office, Weinstein said his client may end up serving additional time for his violation of condition of release.
In a sworn affidavit, Lewiston police officer Nicholas Meserve wrote on Oct. 21, 2014, that he and another officer went to GNC vitamin and health supplement store on East Avenue in Lewiston where Butterfield worked to serve him with a warrant.
Butterfield had been at the back of the store. A woman also was at the back of the store, but Butterfield denied anyone else was there. Officer Kevin Gagne confronted the woman and asked her name. As the officers escorted Butterfield from the store on the warrant, he asked the woman to hold his keys and wallet and told her he loved her.
Four days later, police learned that the woman in the store was the victim in the sexual assault charge. She goes by two different last names, police said. She told police she had permission from the local prosecutors’ office to have contact with Butterfield on that day.
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