In 2011 a
Massachusetts Private Investigator came to Maine to do training with a licensed
Maine Private Investigator. The Massachusetts PI arrived at the case early and
spent 40 minutes on the assignment by himself. The video footage that was
obtained led to an Insurance fraud case against a Maine resident who was
committing fraud. The investigator then applied for a Maine PI License.
In 2013 and
then again in 2014 another Massachusetts PI company sent two unlicensed
investigators to illegally work assignments. They spent four days and 33.5
hours conducting surveillance and obtaining video footage. They made no effort
to obtain a valid Maine PI License.
One of these
PI’s was charged with a crime and went through a three year legal process, the
others were not charged. They all cooperated fully with the Maine State Police
Investigation. Can you guess who was charged with a crime and who was not?
Most likely
you guessed wrong! The first investigator was charged with working in Maine
without a valid PI licensed, went through a three year court process, was
vindicated when the case against him was dismissed and then had his Maine PI
license application denied in retaliation for winning in court. The other PI’s
were not charged. The first investigator was making every effort to follow all
Maine State Laws. The other PI’s were blatantly ignoring Maine PI Laws. The
Maine State Police troopers who investigated each case were the exact same
people. Their names are Lt. Scott Ireland, Det. David Pelletier and Sgt. Michael
Johnston. These men elevated themselves to Judge, Jury and Executioner in both
cases and ignored the constitutional judicial process. The worst part about it,
these troopers have a history of misapplying the law, frivolous investigations
and Internal Affairs trouble.
The Private
Investigator in the first case was me. My name in Joshua Gray and I have been a
private investigator for over a decade. I have held PI licenses in
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and New Jersey. I am known to
have a high level of success with surveillance assignments and have earned
awards and compliments from many in the industry. I have thousands of followers
on social media and often contacted by other PI’s for advice. I’ve built up a
successful practice and worked hard to be placed on the ‘approved vendors list’
of some large Insurance companies. When I started receiving more assignments
than I could handle myself, I would sub-contract them to local investigators.
If the PI did not work the assignments according to my high standards, I would
offer to go on a case with them and give them pointers. That is what I was
doing in 2011 when I came to Maine. The licensed Maine PI that I was meeting
was late and I ended up spending 40 minutes on the case by myself.
The Massachusetts
PI who worked one of the other cases was Dylan McLoud who came to Maine on June
23 through June 24, 2014 specifically to illegally work a case without a valid
PI License. Mr. McLoud worked the case for a total of nineteen and a half
(19.5) hours, obtained some video footage of a Maine resident and produced a
surveillance report with his findings. His direct supervisor, James (Jim)
Collins, of East Coast Investigative Services, Inc. has been in the industry
for over 30 years and is a former Federal Drug Enforcement Administration
officer. Mr. Collins is well connected in the Massachusetts political scene and
is an executive board member of the Massachusetts Private Detectives Association
and Legislative committee. Mr. Collins claims to have been involved in
political lobbying efforts that have “raised the standards in the Private
Investigation profession.” Both Dylan McLoud and Jim Collins knew that it was
illegal to work in Maine without a valid PI license and yet they did it anyway.
A second investigator from East Coast Investigative Services came to Maine in
October of 2013 and conducted 14 hours of surveillance over a two day period.
He is also not licensed in Maine.
Licensed
Maine Investigator Bob Doyon became aware of this illegal activity in September
of 2015 and performed his civic duty by making the Maine State Police aware. He
did this at significant risk to himself and his livelihood. Mr. Doyon’s
employer (who I have chosen to not name) hired Jim Collins as a sub-contractor
and was potentially also in trouble as its illegal to hire an unlicensed
company to perform PI work in Maine. Reporting your own employer for possible
wrongdoing takes a great deal of courage, but was the right thing to do. Mr.
Doyon presented the State Police Investigators with evidence to support Mr.
McLouds Surveillance on the aforementioned dates and other information that clearly
showed wrongdoing. It was a cut and dry case of working in Maine without a PI
License.
On January
5, 2016, Mr Doyon learned Maine State Police had concluded the investigation
and had decided to not charge either Mr. McLoud or Mr. Collins with a crime,
however chose to issue them a warning. In a conversation with Mr. Doyon, Det.
Pelletier stated “Does everyone who violates the law deserves to be charged”.
Later when Mr. Doyon was on a conference call with Lt. Scott Ireland, Det.
David Pelletier and Sgt. Michael Johnston, Sgt. Johnston told him they decided
to not file criminal charges due to Mr. Collins and Mr. McLoud’s cooperation
with the investigation.
This news
was understandably confusing to Mr. Doyon as just a few years ago, he was under
investigation by the same troopers for obtaining video footage from a
camouflage position. Mr. Doyon was also aware of my (Joshua Gray) case where
they filed charges against me for coming to Maine to do training with a PI. He
also knew of other cases where criminal charges were filed that had less
evidence. It made no sense that the State Police would not file charges against
Mr. McLoud and Mr. Collins. In my experience when a government worker does
something that does not make sense, there is a good chance of corruption. We
may be able to dismiss this possibility if that was the only time they made a
questionable decision. However in the case of Lt. Scott Ireland, Det. David
Pelletier and Sgt. Michael Johnston, there is a history of questionable
decisions.
Lt. Scott
Ireland and Det. David Pelletier where recently under an Internal Affairs
investigation where they were both caught lying to Lt. Anna Love of Maine State
Police Internal Affairs. I have found unethical connections between Lt. Ireland
and Michael Harrington, owner of Merrill’s Investigations & Security, one
of the largest PI firms in Maine. In Fact Lt. Ireland nominated Mr. Harrington
to be the chairman of the Private Investigator oversight board in Maine.
Meaning that Mr. Harrington was on an oversight board that regulates himself, an
example of blatant corruption they are not even trying to hide. Perhaps the
reason they commit corruption so openly, is because Maine State Police do not
have a citizen oversight committee to hold them accountable. The person in the
Attorney General’s office who is responsible for State Police Oversight is
Brian MacMaster, who is friends with Lt. Scott Ireland and has a lake house
next to Mr. Michael Harrington. I could document even more corruption, however in
the interest of time, I will simply say, there is no doubt in my mind that Lt.
Ireland, Det. Pelletier, Sgt, Johnston and Mr. Harrington are corrupt and need
to be exposed.
Lt. Scott
Ireland and his gang of corrupt troopers have decided they are Judge, Jury and
Executioner. In my case they decided I was guilty despite Judge Jeffery Hjelm
dismissing the charges against me. In Mr. Bob Doyon’s case, they decided he was
guilty despite no supporting evidence to prove their case. In Mr. Dylan McLoud’s
case, they decided he was innocent despite having overwhelming evidence of his and
Mr. Jim Collin’s guilt. The only way to explain this seemingly illogical
pattern is when you accept they are corrupt. When you look at this case through
the eyes of corrupt political connections, it makes perfect sense. Keep in mind
that Mr. Jim Collins is very politically connected in Massachusetts. It only
makes sense that some politician in Massachusetts pressured some politician in
Maine who told Lt. Ireland to not prosecute. Good police look at the law as
black and white, you’re either guilty or innocent, and apply that philosophy
fairly and evenly. Corrupt police don’t care about the law, the constitution or
the judicial process and apply the law based on political pressures and
influence. It’s overwhelmingly obvious where Lt. Scott Ireland, Det. David
Pelletier and Sgt. Michael Johnston fall.
When I was
going through the Maine Justice system, it was often relayed to me that Maine
State Police were trying to crack down on out of state companies coming to
Maine to work cases. They were concerned that it would take work away from duly
licensed Maine Investigators. However when they had the chance to prosecute a
company that was clearly sending unlicensed Investigators to Maine, they decided
to let them go. When I came to Maine to do training with a licensed
Investigator who I was giving work to, they decided to come after me with
everything they had. Does that sound fair to any rational person! However after
Justice Jeffrey Hjelm dismissed the charges, they retaliated against me by
contacting my largest client and telling them I was under an ‘ongoing
investigation’. This caused me to lose that client. That was not enough damage
to me, they also denied my PI application in Maine. They seemed to stop a
nothing to make sure that I could not be licensed in Maine when I did nothing
wrong, however would not even prosecute some investigators that were clearly
breaking Maine PI Laws. It is infuriating and completely unfair. There is a
special place in Hell for people like Lt. Scott W Ireland, Det. David Pelletier
and Sgt. Michael Johnston.
