ROCKLAND – Knox County Sheriff Daniel Davey and Thomaston police Officer Tim Hoppe say they were duped by a marketing company with which they signed a contract to raise funds for a youth program.

They learned earlier this week through an article published in The Courier-Gazette newspaper that East Coast Marketing Group of Westbrook and Pawtucket, R.I., is under investigation by the Maine Attorney General’s Office for alleged illegal business practices.

“We became victims, just as these contributors did,” Davey said Friday during a press conference at the sheriff’s office.

“Usually I have to find out who’s duping who,” Hoppe said.

Hoppe recently assumed leadership of the Knox County Explorer Program, which encourages youths to enter the field of law enforcement. The deal with East Coast involved the firm raising funds for the group through a basketball game featuring several former New England Patriots football players. The game is scheduled for Nov. 6.

East Coast Marketing Group owner Gaylon Boshears solicited Hoppe to raise funds for Explorer uniforms, training, field trips and such. To date, the firm has collected more than $14,000 overall, Hoppe said, noting that the money is now being held by the Explorers Program to be returned to contributors.

“Fortunately, I was able to get to the money before they did,” Hoppe said.

Of that total, East Coast has received $3,664, Hoppe said, adding, “We’re trying to get that back.”

The goal of the company was to raise $40,000, of which the Explorers would have received 24 percent, Hoppe said.

Boshears could not be reached Friday for comment. A man answering the telephone in East Coast’s Pawtucket office would not confirm that Boshears is the company owner or the spelling of his name.

Assistant Attorney General Lisa Conti, who is involved in the East Coast case, could not be reached Friday for comment.

Although the marketing firm receives the lion’s share of the profits, the draw for participating groups is that more money is raised with the firm than with baked bean suppers or bake sales.

“Acting in good faith and without any knowledge that [East Coast] had pending legal problems involving solicitation, the two law enforcement agencies asked [East Coast] to do a fund-raiser to benefit the Explorer Program,” Davey said. “One of the reasons for allowing the fund-raiser was the fact that many organizations in Maine have received these services from [East Coast].”

The attorney general’s investigation was brought to the attention of law enforcement and the public earlier this week when the local newspaper published a story about the probe.

The Explorer’s relationship with the company was promptly severed, Davey said.

Davey handed out a list of 19 Maine organizations – many police- and fire-related – that have raised funds through East Coast. The hand-written list is on East Coast letterhead to the attention of Sheriff Dan Davey.

The sheriff also discovered East Coast was soliciting businesses and some residences with the caller identifying himself as being from the Sheriff’s Department, a deputy or, in at least one instance, the sheriff himself.

“I did not authorize that,” Davey said.

A caller identified himself as “Dan” from the Sheriff’s Department, Davey said, “and I have a real problem with that.”

In Maine, law enforcement agencies may not directly raise funds, he explained, and therefore, East Coast was deceiving contributors.

Davey said he was criticized in 1997 by the same local newspaper for doing business with East Coast. At that time, the focus of the article was on the percentage of profit the marketing firm makes, he said.

The sheriff and Hoppe are also investigating the company, and will inform the public of new information as it becomes available, they said.

In the meantime, they intend to return money to contributors. They were uncertain whether the Nov. 6 basketball game will be called off.