Three former York County Corrections Officers were indicted on November 4 after they allegedly accepted bribes from a prisoner to smuggle contraband into the jail.
“We take allegations such as these very seriously,” said York County Sheriff William King in a Thursday press release. “As soon as we learned of the allegations, we took immediate action. It is important to note that the action by these three individuals is not reflective of the dedication and professionalism of the remaining York County Corrections Officers.”
The indictment, handed down by the York County Grand Jury, determined that enough evidence exists against the suspects to proceed with a prosecution.
According to Sheriff King, the alleged incidents first came to light in April when the department received information that three corrections officers—Kayleigh Hamilton, 38, of Sanford; Emma Kehoe, 25, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Zarek Melick, 26, of Lyman—took money from an inmate.
The inmate, Connor McGlone, 29, of Wolfboro, NH, was previously arrested in 2024 in connection with a string of robberies at churches across Southern Maine.
[RELATED: Man Arrested After Series of Robberies at Southern Maine Churches…]
McGlone allegedly paid the jail officials to smuggle contraband into the prison.
Sheriff King claimed that investigators stopped the alleged conspiracy before any contraband could actually be introduced into the prison.
The three correctional officers allegedly each worked at the jail for about 18 months, until they resigned during the course of the investigation conducted by the sheriff’s department’s Detective Bureau.
The press release did not say that the three corrections officers had been arrested or issued court summonses yet, but it confirmed that the case will be prosecuted by the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
In his press release, King claimed that the department has no tolerance for this sort of “misdeeds,” though this is not the first time this year that one of the department’s corrections officers has put the department in a difficult position.
This spring, another former corrections officer, Esmeralda LaPorte, was found to be in a romantic relationship and living with a fugitive actively sought by the department, according to official incident reports reviewed by The Maine Wire.
Instead of taking “immediate action,” as King claimed his department did in this case, LaPorte faced no disciplinary action whatsoever and was allowed to continue working at the jail for months.
LaPorte eventually “resigned” just days after The Maine Wire submitted a Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) request for information on the situation.
Now, despite the indictment of the three corrections officers taking place over a week ago, King only decided to issue a press release on it one day after The Maine Wire published its article detailing the situation surrounding LaPorte.
Hamilton was indicted on two class E counts of receiving improper gifts as a public servant.
Kehoe was indicted on one class D charge of conspiracy and one Class E count of receiving improper gifts as a public servant.
Melick was indicted on one class E count of receiving improper gifts as a public servant.
The prisoner involved, McGlone, was transferred to the Maine State Prison and indicted on a class D count of conspiracy and four counts of providing improper gifts to public servants.
