Ex-Pittsfield man investigated in sex case

PITTSFIELD – John Heaton, a former Pittsfield resident who was charged but never prosecuted for illegal sexual contact, is under investigation in Vermont for alleged sexual misconduct, according to the Northfield (Vt.) Police Department on Monday.

Heaton, 21, a senior at Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., and his brother, David Heaton, 22, were the focus in 1998 of a lengthy investigation by Pittsfield police into alleged sexual wrongdoing. Nearly three years ago, they were both charged with illegal sexual contact, but the case languished and has never been brought to court by Somerset County District Attorney David Crook’s office.

The prosecutor said Monday that the charges have not been dropped, rather shelved, and that possibly the Vermont investigation could provide new information useful in Maine.

During the Pittsfield investigation, 10 area women and girls came forward with statements against the brothers, citing unwanted sexual contact at the former Heaton home on Libby Street.

On Monday morning, Northfield Officer Jeffrey Goldstein said the “sensitive nature” of the Vermont case prohibits him from making the details of the investigation public.

He did confirm, however, that John Heaton was the primary suspect in an investigation sparked when “a victim came forward alleging unwanted sexual contact.”

Goldstein has requested copies of all witness statements and police reports from the 1998 Pittsfield investigation. Pittsfield Police Chief Steven Emery was busy Monday morning copying and faxing the hefty case file.

Heaton will graduate this Sunday from Norwich University, and the investigation is being pursued aggressively, Goldstein said.

“I would like to either cite him or clear him before Sunday,” the officer said.

Goldstein said the Northfield Police Department has never had a complaint brought against Heaton in the four years that he has been a student at Norwich University.

The brothers were arrested and charged with unlawful sexual contact on May 15, 1998, while they were living in Pittsfield, where they were standout scholars and athletes at Maine Central Institute.

The investigation began when they were home from their respective colleges on a break, and a 16-year-old girl told police she had been assaulted by the brothers at their home.

As word of the arrest got out, nine girls and women, ages 16 to 20, reported to police similar incidents allegedly involving the brothers.

According to Pittsfield investigators, the women told police that the Heatons had provided under-aged girls with alcohol and then took advantage of their intoxicated state in a sexual manner. All of the incidents reported were alleged to have taken place at the Heaton home, often during parties.

According to former Pittsfield police Officer Len Macdaid, now the Clinton police chief, the female who originally filed the complaint was attending a gathering at the Heaton residence when she allegedly was pinned down by one brother and attacked by the other.

The nine other alleged victims reported to police that this type of activity was familiar to Pittsfield teen-agers, according to Macdaid. He confirmed after the investigation that other girls told him it was well-known that drinking was allowed and promoted at the residence and when the girls were intoxicated they allegedly became easy targets.

One source close to the Pittsfield investigation said that one young girl allegedly was sexually assaulted while she was kneeling on a bathroom floor, vomiting into a toilet.

For the past several years, Crook and his staff have been evasive when pressed about the lack of prosecution of the Heatons.

Six months after Pittsfield Police Chief Emery claimed the investigations into the case had been completed and turned over to the District Attorney’s Office, then-Assistant District Attorney Andrew Benson said he was still waiting for the reports that Emery said had been forwarded.

Repeated inquiries regarding the status of the Pittsfield case have been referred from one prosecutor to another within Crook’s office. Crook has repeatedly refused to comment on the case.

When asked Monday about the status of the 3-year-old case, Crook said, “The case file was never completed to our satisfaction. Pittsfield [police department] simply didn’t give us enough to prosecute. There was insufficient evidence.”

Crook continued, “Our office certainly does not have a reputation for backing away from sexual abuse cases. It is just the opposite. But in this case, well, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”