The Maine Attorney General’s Office investigated more than a decade ago whether Bertrand Girard was sexually assaulted as a boy by a former Biddeford police officer, long before Girard filed a lawsuit this year against the officer, his attorney said Thursday.
Girard is the second man to sue Stephen Dodd, who resigned in 2003 and has been publicly accused of sexually assaulting multiple boys while working for the city.
Girard, now 52 and living in Hollis, alleges in the lawsuit that was moved from state court to federal court in Portland on March 11 that Dodd first sexually abused him between 1977 and 1982.
“There was some investigation by the Attorney General’s Office in 2002,” said attorney Daniel Lilley, who represents Girard in the lawsuit. “It never went anywhere.” Timothy Feeley, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, declined to comment on whether its investigators looked into Girard’s allegations against Dodd.
Lilley said Girard was reluctant to speak publicly about Dodd before because he was ashamed.
“It’s an embarrassing kind of thing,” Lilley said. “He had a horrible, horrible life for a long time.”
Girard eventually married, had children and improved his life. But as public outcry increased last year against Dodd by others who claim they too were abused as boys by the former officer, Girard decided it was finally time to speak out and hold responsible Dodd and those who empowered him.
“It’s not about the money,” Lilley said. “It’s about getting people to step up. I think it’s about the principle as much as anything. It’s been difficult for him.”
Lilley said he could not yet discuss what the investigation by the Attorney General’s Office revealed.
“Our case is just beginning, Lilley said.
The lawsuit also names the city of Biddeford and longtime police Chief Roger Beaupre as defendants. Girard alleges Beaupre knew about the abuse, or should have, but did nothing to stop it, according to the court documents.
Beaupre’s attorney, Timothy Bryant, filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Portland on March 15 seeking to dismiss the complaint against the police chief on grounds that the statute of limitations on the claims expired in the 1980s. The Maine Tort Claim Act requires claims be filed within two years of the minor turning 18, according to court documents.
Neither Beaupre nor Bryant returned phone messages seeking comment Thursday.
Girard did not respond to a phone message left at his business, Girard Yard Services in Biddeford. Attorney Keith Jacques, who represents the city of Biddeford in the case, also did not repond to a message Thursday.
Girard has an extensive criminal record with numerous misdemeanor convictions dating from 1988 to 2003. He was also convicted of a felony charge of unlawful furnishing of drugs in 1993 and was sentenced to probation. His misdemeanor convictions included criminal mischief, assault and violation of consumer solicitation, according to a Maine State Bureau of Identification database.
The first man to accuse Dodd of sexual abuse in a lawsuit was Biddeford native Matthew Lauzon.
Lauzon, whose lawsuit against Dodd, the city and Beaupre is still pending, led a high-profile effort pushing for charges against Dodd and to hold public officials accountable for what he and his supporters characterized as a failure to protect teens from a known abuser.
Dodd resigned from the police force and surrendered his law enforcement certificate in 2003, shortly after he was investigated by the Attorney General’s Office on allegations he had sexually abused a teenage boy. No charges were ever filed against him.
After Lauzon went public with his allegations, a South Portland man came forward with allegations he was abused by Dodd when they were growing up near each other in the 1970s. Richard Alexander says he reported that abuse, but Dodd wasn’t charged and went on to become a police officer.
Girard’s older brother, Norm Girard, spoke publicly at Biddeford City Council meeting last May 28 about the abuse he says he and his two brothers were subjected to by Dodd when they were teenagers in the late 1970s. “I was surprised to hear about the suit because the environment the city leadership has created is so toxic and intimidating,” Lauzon said in an email on Thursday. “I’m thrilled, on the other hand, to see the community being so kind and supportive as the way people react could be the difference between healing and suicide.”
Attempts to reach Dodd since early 2015 have been unsuccessful. Court documents indicate it’s not known where he is living. Acquaintances have told the Portland Press Herald that Dodd lives in an RV and travels between Maine and Florida.
The judge in Girard’s lawsuit has yet to issue a scheduling order for how the case will proceed.
In Lauzon’s case, Beaupre has raised a similar statute of limitations argument and has filed a motion to dismiss. Lawyers have filed written arguments on that motion, but a hearing date before a judge has yet to be set.
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