A Maine prosecutor, sheriff’s deputies, police officer and town selectman were among a dozen individuals charged in federal court on Wednesday in connection with a $13 million dollar illegal drug operation.
According to federal charges, Franklin county prosecutor Kayla Alves tipped off the police officers involved in the conspiracy about the surveillance and the federal criminal investigation in to the drug enterprise. She is also charged with tempering with evidence.
It is not clear how district attorney Andrew Robinson overlooked all the criminality around him, while his assistant DA Kayla Alves was fully aware of the federal investigation and surveillance where local police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and a local politician were either employed by, or were partners of, the criminal enterprise that was under federal investigation for drug trafficking. It is possible Kayla Alves was not properly trained or supervised. Her highly reputable attorney, Walter McKee, stated she did nothing illegal.
Nevertheless, there are a lot of serious federal charges and in order to gain a better understanding, a closer examination of Andrew Robinson’s DA office and its priorities is warranted.
As prosecutor, Kayla Alves handled domestic violence cases in Robinson’s DA office. Robinson started his own prosecutorial career handling domestic violence cases and made women’s issues one of the main priorities of his administration. Holding a radical feminist world view has been a long standing political litmus test for Maine prosecutors. It is virtually impossible to become a district attorney in Maine without bowing to radical feminists who run the domestic violence racket using millions of dollars of federal funds.
In May of this year, for example, Robinson wrote a strong letter to Maine Legislature’s Judiciary Committee in support of a new Bill that would allow gender discrimination in prostitution cases. The law would allow prostitutes criminal immunity and expungement of past convictions. This would likely result in even more prostitution. However, under the proposed law men would face “increased penalties” and harsher prosecution for engaging prostitutes. Robinson’s sexist position views female criminals as victims who need to be protected from criminal records, and criminal prosecution applied based on gender rather than on facts and evidence in each case.
In a truly Orwellian fashion Robinson called this an “Equality Model”.
Some Maine prosecutors see the world through ‘The Power and Control Wheel’ which was fabricated out of thin air by a couple of unqualified radical feminists to justify blaming men accused by any woman. Perhaps Robinson has been more focused on how to spend the federal Violence Against Women Act grants or to find more men to prosecute rather than noticing the $13 million dollar drug empire operating in his district with the help of his staff and local law enforcement. Clearly local corruption was not Robinson’s priority.
Perhaps the federal prosecutors should use DA Robinson’s “Equality Model” to hold him responsible as a man and supervisor of Kayla Alves. Using the same logic Maine prosecutors employ against men, the ‘power dynamic’ in his DA office should be taken in to consideration. And perhaps federal prosecutors should consider Kayla Alves’ feelings for any possible criminal charging decisions against DA Robinson. After all, in Maine criminal charging decisions are often based on ‘believing all women’ and their feelings about their inner thoughts rather than their actions.
Perhaps what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
And while many Maine men get little to no sympathy from the State as they struggle with economic hardship and substance abuse, what they do get is criminal prosecutions, imprisonment, and their lives permanently destroyed. The suicide rate of Maine men is off the charts. For many years suicide was the number one cause of death of Maine men in their prime. Today it’s ranked number two just below drug overdose deaths.
Is it possible that some Mainers may have been victimized twice by some of these same law enforcement officials; once when they were sold the illicit drugs and a second time when they were prosecuted for buying them? There needs to be more investigations and criminal accountability.
This case is likely just the tip of the iceberg in Maine, where far greater civil rights crimes are committed by officials, with impunity, throughout the Maine justice system. Maine’s Attorney General is responsible with oversight and prosecution of civil rights crimes. Yet his office has not held any prosecutors or police accountable for misconduct even after court findings of egregious violations.
Perhaps federal authorities and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division could investigate the rampant corruption that plagues the Maine justice system. And perhaps, DA Robinson and the Maine Judiciary Committee could recall that the real “Equality Model” is detailed in the U.S. Constitution where laws must be applied and enforced equally regardless of anyone’s gender, race, or their social or political status.
© Vladek Filler
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