Trespassing charges dropped against educators arrested at MEA hearing

PORTLAND – Charges have been dropped against three educators, including the wife of Maine’s attorney general, who were arrested for criminal trespass at a Maine Education Association hearing.

Union leaders held a closed session last week to discuss whether to suspend Rosemarie DeAngelis, a former president of MEA’s affiliate in South Portland. A police officer asked to attend the session arrested DeAngelis after union officials asked her to leave and she refused.

Amanda Rowe, a school nurse in Portland, and Ellen Pariser of Newburgh were arrested after entering the room.

Kennebec County District Attorney David Crook said the MEA board of directors could have considered options besides having the women arrested. He said the case was an example of private groups using police authority to inappropriately settle a civil dispute.

“The criminal courts are being asked to settle fundamentally private issues at the expense of the taxpayer,” Crook wrote in his notice of dismissal. “The district attorney, the courts and the Augusta Police Department should not be forced to settle this issue.”

Rowe, the wife of Attorney General Steven Rowe, said she, DeAngelis and Pariser would have left if they had been given a chance to talk.

“We pay the MEA leadership way too much to make decisions like they did on Sunday,” Rowe said. “And I do not intend to let this be the final word.”

Rowe said she was meeting with her lawyer to talk about options.

DeAngelis said the MEA was considering suspending her because she was slow in reporting South Portland’s finances to the state organization.

DeAngelis, who said she is seeking election to a national union position in May, speculated that the board’s hearing and her arrest were part of an attempt to silence her.

Calls seeking comment from the MEA were not immediately returned.