A Superior Court judge has ruled that a Republican candidate for district attorney in Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties has violated several Maine bar rules, including unlawful conduct. Seth Carey will now face a hearing to consider whether any sanctions should be imposed, including possible disbarment.
Carey had previously received a two-year suspension in a prior disciplinary proceeding. But his suspension was put on hold after he agreed to meet certain conditions of a 2016 consent order. Then, in March of this year, Carey was found by a district court judge to have engaged in unlawful sexual touching and domestic assault of a woman who was living in his Rumford home. She was granted a protection order against Carey and he was again put on interim suspension.
During a hearing in August, Carey’s tenant testified that he had repeatedly pressured her for sex and made unwanted physical advances. Justice Thomas Warren also found evidence that Carey had violated rules of professional conduct by representing or attempting to represent clients after his suspension, and that he continued to campaign for the Republican nomination for district attorney, referring to himself as an attorney even though he was suspended.
A hearing to determine what, if any, sanctions Carey should face has not yet been scheduled.
