WATERVILLE — The criminal charge against Don Reiter, the former Waterville High School principal accused of propositioning a student, is on hold while investigators look at his phone and computer.
Reiter, who allegedly asked a 18-year-old high school senior for sex on the first day of school in August, was charged by Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney in November with official oppression, a class E misdemeanor applied to public corruption cases. He was dismissed from his position Nov. 16 by the Waterville School Board.
Reiter’s lawyer, Walter McKee, entered a not guilty plea for Reiter on Feb. 2 on the charge, “but no complaint appears to have been filed,” he said Wednesday in an email.
“As it stands now, there is no charge against Don, and it should stay that way,” he said.
Maloney said Wednesday the charge is on hold while detectives from the Waterville Police Department collect more information.
“It was something the detectives brought to our attention. They wanted to pursue it,” Maloney said.
“We need to make sure that our investigation is done before we start the court process,” she added. The charge against Reiter hasn’t been dropped and there is a three-year statute of limitations on the crime he is accused of.
Police got a search warrant for phone and computer records, Maloney said. It was not immediately clear Wednesday whether the warrant had been executed. How long the search will take depends on how long the phone and computer companies that have access to the records take to respond to the warrant, she added.
“It is not something that is within my ability to control,” Maloney said.
Maloney could not confirm the warrant was for Reiter’s personal phone and computer, but said that the school department already had given consent to search its property.
“We wouldn’t need a search warrant for school property,” she said.
Maloney would not say whether police were looking for anything specific or whether findings could result in more charges against Reiter.
“It is impossible to know if it would lead to additional charges of evidence to support the charge already brought forward,” she said.
The Waterville School Board fired Reiter after a months-long investigation by administrators and a public disciplinary hearing held over several days. He had been put on administrative leave Sept. 1.
Waterville police also investigated the allegations against Reiter. The department did not press charges initially but reopened the investigation after two former students from Mascenic Regional High School in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, alleged Reiter had inappropriate relationships with them while he was principal at that school.
The New Ipswich police chief recently said he still is waiting to get a report from Waterville police.
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