Former official gets jail time for election offenses Man wanted name first on ballot

CARIBOU – A veteran former selectman from Perham was sentenced Wednesday to two concurrent terms of seven days in jail for causing a delay in the delivery of absentee ballots and official oppression in that town’s municipal elections last March.

Robin Paradis, 49, was scheduled to start serving his sentence at the Aroostook County Jail on Wednesday. He will be paying the county $80 per day for his stay at the correctional facility.

Paradis, who served as a selectman for 10 years, lost his bid for re-election last March.

The decision rendered by Justice E. Allen Hunter in Aroostook County Superior Court on Wednesday came about in a plea bargain between Paradis and the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

In the deal, two other counts against Paradis, that of tampering with ballots and a second count of official oppression, were dismissed.

Paradis, represented by defense attorney Rick Currier of Presque Isle, simply said “yes sir,” “no sir,” and “guilty” twice when questioned by Justice Hunter about issues at the hearing.

“He abused his power as a sitting selectman,” Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin told the court during the 15-minute hearing. “He ordered the town clerk to dispose of or destroy ballots.

“He ordered the town clerk to make new ballots, listing his name first,” she said. “He believed that if his name was listed first, he was more likely to win.”

She called his actions “serious under election laws.”

In Paradis’ defense, Currier told the court that the town had a long history of listing incumbents’ names first on the ballot.

“There are two factions of residents in the town of Perham, and meetings often get quite heated,” Currier told the court. “Mr. Paradis was once assaulted at a public meeting.

“Paradis wants to avoid legal entanglements,” Currier said. “He admits that he directed the town clerk to change the ballot, but it was done out of ignorance.”

“No sir,” Paradis said when asked by the justice if he had anything to say on his behalf.

“This is an appropriate outcome,” Hunter said of the agreement between Paradis and the state. “There are few rights as guarded as that of voting.”

In his initial court appearance, Paradis had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. He had requested a jury trial. The plea bargain changed that original request.

Before Wednesday, Paradis had been free on an unsecured $5,000 bond. He was not to contact Town Clerk Aileen Tuttle and not go to the Perham town hall while he was free on bond.