PORTLAND – The Maine Supreme Court accepted a letter of resignation submitted by the attorney who called in bomb threats to two Wilton-area elementary schools in 2012, and was charged with domestic violence terrorizing earlier this year.
Attorney Ronald E. Hoffman, 54 of Sumner, had been practicing law while subject to a suspended sanction tied to the bomb threat incident. In March, following a February incident in which Hoffman allegedly threatened to “blow [the alleged victim’s] brains out], the attorney submitted a letter of resignation to the state bar. On March 26, the Board of Overseers of the Bar reviewed the letter and accompanying affidavit and unanimously recommended that Hoffman’s resignation be accepted.
After conducting a hearing on April 16, Donald G. Alexander, an associate justice with the Maine Supreme Court, ordered that Hoffman’s resignation be accepted effective May 19.
The roots of the matter go back to the morning of March 29, 2012, when bomb threat calls came into G.D. Cushing School and then Academy Hill School, both located in Wilton. A male caller told both secretaries that “there is a bomb in your school” and both schools were evacuated.
Wilton and state police began investigating the calls, tracing them back to a disposable cellphone purchased at the Walmart in Mexico on March 28, 2012. Footage from that Walmart was reviewed by State Police Det. Randall Keaten, who recognized Hoffman. Meanwhile, police learned that the phone had been used from a McDonald’s in Rumford and questioned Hoffman. He denied being in that part of Rumford on the morning of March 29, instead saying he had purchased the cellphone, was unable to get it to work and threw it out. Footage taken from that McDonald’s by police indicated that he had in fact been there.
In September 2012, Hoffman, a Rumford-based criminal defense attorney, pleaded no contest to two counts of criminal threatening, a Class D misdemeanor, as part of a sentencing arrangement with the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Hoffman was sentenced to two consecutive prison sentences of 364 days, both suspended with a year of administrative release. Information presented at sentencing indicates that Hoffman suffered from multiple medical health issues and was taking 10 different medications prescribed by doctors, as well as insulin. A specific motive for the bomb threats targeting the Wilton schools has never been offered.
Earlier this year, Hoffman was arrested on Feb. 7 by Sgt. Douglas Maifeld of the Rumford Police Department on a charge of terrorizing. According to court documents, two witnesses at Rumford District Court said Hoffman, who was at court practicing law, told them the “he was going to blow (the victim’s) brains out.” Both witnesses told police they “were in fear Mr. Hoffman could actually commit this offense due to his history.”
On Feb. 12, the state revoked Hoffman’s administrative release on the two counts of terrorizing because conditions of his release included engaging in no new criminal activity. Hoffman has entered a denial on all allegations.
I never understood how he was allowed to continue practicing law after terrorizing a bunch of little kids. I am glad there is finally some consequence without somebody really getting hurt.
One has to wonder why he wasn’t disbarred.
and maybe pilloried or even hung. (head shaking).
He has some serious problems and shouldn’t be making decisions that effect other people. I would hope that clients had not returned to him, but to suggest Draconian punishment without allowing him to resign is a bit over the top. The man has lost a career at a fairly young age. Let’s forget the tar and feathers.
Tony, tar and feathers? Did I miss something?