By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
The investigation into former Keene Police Lt. James McLaughlin’s testimony that put a Vermont man in prison for the better part of a decade is still active, according to Grafton County Attorney Martha Hornick.
Hornick was appointed to review Robert Lamontagne’s case last year, and told InDepthNH.org this week no conclusions have been reached in the matter. A response to an InDepthNH.org right-to know request for documents associated with her review resulted in 28 largely redacted pages from her office.
Lamontagne was convicted in 1990 on three counts of endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly molesting children in his care. Lamontagne maintains his innocence.
Lamontagne has been seeking a new trial based on the reports showing McLaughlin has a history of lying and tampering with evidence, and is believed to be on the state’s Exculpatory Evidence Schedule, or Laurie List.
The Laurie List, since replaced by the EES, was the secret list county prosecutors kept of police officers with known histories of problems like lying, engaging in excessive force, or committing crimes. The list is now kept by the Attorney General’s Office. The names of these officers are supposed to be divulged to defense attorneys when the officers testify in court.
When Lamontagne was first investigated and then prosecuted, it was McLaughlin who took the lead in the case. At the time, Lamontagne says, McLaughlin was known to have credibility issues serious enough to be on the Laurie List, but that was never conveyed to his attorney, Bruce Jasper.
Jasper confirmed to InDepthNH.org last year that he was never told about McLaughlin’s Laurie List status.
Hornick was appointed to the case, even though it is a Cheshire County matter, in order to avoid a conflict of interest. McLaughlin is currently employed as the investigator for Cheshire County Attorney Chris McLaughlin, no relation. Chris McLaughlin did not respond to a request for comment.
InDepthNH.org first reported McLaughlin is on the Laurie List when the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office first released a partial list in late December of 2021. That initial list records that McLaughlin was first placed on the EES in 1985.
McLaughlin couldn’t be reached Friday and has in the past declined to comment to InDepthNH.org.
McLaughlin’s name was removed from the public list a few hours later, with Department of Justice officials stating his name was included in error at that time.
As part of the legislation that makes the Laurie List public, police officers on the list have the opportunity to challenge their placement through a lawsuit. There are still dozens of Laurie List legal challenges pending in New Hampshire courts, currently under seal.
According to McLaughlin’s personnel file, obtained through a right-to-know request, McLaughlin was suspended in 1986 for firing his gun into beer kegs while responding to a 1985 teen drinking party. He reportedly lied to superiors about the gunfire, according to the report, claiming other officers heard fireworks.
In the spring of 1988, McLaughlin received a letter of reprimand from then-Chief Thomas Powers after McLaughlin was involved in a December 1987 heated verbal confrontation with a civilian on the phone, and later inside the station. It was during this incident that the audio recording of the phone call was destroyed under suspicious circumstances, according to a statement written by Powers.
“In the subsequent interview concerning the incident, no reasonable reason for the blank tape was found and an electronic examination of the tape revealed unintelligible voices,” Powers wrote. “You provided statements that you had ‘words’ with the complainant and had rewound the tape to get his name, yet did not purposefully erase any part thereof. You could not explain the misfiling of the tape, nor why the log did not indicate the tape cleaning or changing at 2400 hours.”
Powers indicates that McLaughlin already in 1988 had a record for bad behavior as a police officer.
“I reviewed your personnel files and several internal affairs investigations. While you have accumulated a number of praises in your career, a disproportionate number of serious accusations and violations have significantly detracted from your record, including a one-week suspension,” Powers wrote.
Powers called McLaughin’s explanation for the tape erasure “unacceptable,” though he did not impose any suspension for the matter. Powers encouraged McLaughlin to use the reprimand as motivation to change his attitude.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, McLaughlin would become a celebrity investigator, gaining fame for his then-innovative use of the internet to catch child sex abusers. He made cases against the suspects by posing as a teen in online forums and engaging in sexually charged conversations with adult men. At his peak, McLaughlin made 400 arrests on his own, according to a 2003 Boston Globe profile.