Somerset sheriff’s deputy reinstated

PITTSFIELD – A Somerset County deputy who was suspended Aug. 3 after his teen-age son filed an assault complaint against him has been reinstated after being cleared by an investigation conducted by the state Attorney General’s Office.

Sgt. Pierre “Pete” Boucher was back on the job Friday morning, according to Chief Deputy Ronald Moody of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department.

“He was ecstatic to get back,” Moody said of Boucher. “This obviously is a big burden off him, his wife and his family.”

According to Moody, Sheriff Barry DeLong received a telephone call at 5:30 p.m. Thursday from William Stokes, head of the criminal division of the Attorney General’s Office, informing him that the investigation was concluded.

“We found no basis to conclude that criminal conduct occurred,” Stokes said Friday.

DeLong, who was unavailable for comment Friday afternoon, suspended Boucher with pay pending the outcome of an investigation into the charges.

DeLong said earlier that he suspended Boucher on Aug. 3 after learning of the assault accusation filed with the Pittsfield Police Department from District Attorney David Crook. DeLong said Crook told him he was forwarding the investigation to the Attorney General’s Office immediately.

DeLong and Pittsfield Police Chief Steven Emery said earlier that Boucher’s 16-year-old son went to the Pittsfield police and accused his father of assaulting him. Emery confirmed that injuries were visible on the boy and that Boucher denied the claims, stating that he had simply disciplined his child.

Emery said his department conducted a preliminary investigation and then turned the case over to William Hinkle, domestic violence investigator for the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office. The case also was referred to the Attorney General’s Office, said Emery.

Emery said the circular route of investigation was required because Boucher was a law enforcement officer. Moody agreed.

“It’s unfortunate that you have to jump through these hoops,” Moody said. “As a police officer, you’re automatically held to higher standards. It’s almost like a reverse situation,” with civilians considered innocent until proven guilty and police guilty until proven innocent.

Boucher, who lives in Pittsfield, was a Pittsfield police officer from 1987 until 1992, when he was forced to resign after he was arrested and pleaded guilty to four counts of exceeding the bag limit for deer. Boucher had shot five deer, keeping one and giving the others to friends and family members. Those people also were charged in the incident.

Boucher received a 12-day jail sentence and a $4,400 fine, and his license to be a police officer was revoked. Several years later, his license was returned to him after Newport Police Chief James Ricker sponsored him before a regulatory panel. After working as a part-time officer for both the Newport and Fairfield police departments, Boucher was hired by the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department.

While still an officer in Pittsfield, Boucher received notoriety when he was involved in a shootout in Pittsfield on Route 2. In June 1990, Richard Pierce, then 58, of Dover-Foxcroft opened fire on Boucher with a rifle when Boucher made a routine traffic stop.

More than 22 shots were exchanged in a barrage of gunfire. Twelve of the bullets fired by Pierce struck Boucher’s cruiser and two fired by the officer hit Pierce. Pierce was convicted of aggravated assault and sentenced to five years in prison.