Corruption Exposed at Maine State Police

By Joshua Gray, Private Detective - Boston, MA

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.