AUGUSTA, Maine — Dr. Mark Flomenbaum has been the subject of intense scrutiny this year after he changed his opinion in a high-profile murder case, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial.
Now a member of the Maine Legislature’s Judiciary Committee has filed yet another complaint about the state's chief medical examiner, based on a tip he received Wednesday night.
Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos, an Independent from Friendship, had filed two previous complaints questioning the conduct and credibility of Flomenbaum.
Then, on Wednesday night, Evangelos received a tip pointing him to a 2017 job posting for a deputy chief medical examiner – a posting Evangelos described as “sick" and "shocking."
"The advertisement has what I would call shocking and sick content," Evangelos told NEWS CENTER Maine on Thursday. "Whoever wrote this ad, if it is legitimate, it is sick… it makes jokes and references decomposed bodies of Mainers. They’re trying to sell Maine as great destination to come and work…”
The ad first touts what you usually find in a job posting... "a winter mecca for skiers, snowmobilers, ice fishing and other winter sports, but then adds, "Translation: really short season of decomposed bodies."
Another selling point is the state's "vast waterways and enormous coastline ideal for aquatic and marine sports [translation: many bodies are lost at sea or wind up in either New Hampshire or Canada.]"
Another selling point noted that our vast waterways meant that many bodies would float to New Hampshire or Canada.
After speaking with Evangelos, NEWS CENTER Maine spoke to Nicole Sacre in the office of Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, who confirmed that the ad was legitimate and posted by the state.
Frey’s office declined to provide copies of Evangelos’ complaints, citing a personnel matter, but Evangelos said his first complaint followed reports in the Portland Press Herald about Flomenbaum’s private consulting business and concerns that he was engaging in private business on state time.
He subsequently filed a complaint about cases Flomenbaum consulted on in different states that Evangelos says have “demolished” his credibility, with repercussions for cases in Maine.
In 2007, Flomenbaum was fired from his position as chief medical examiner in Massachusetts after “fundamental operational and administrative failures” including a missing body.
During a 2016 manslaughter case in Connecticut, a judge instructed a jury to disregard his expert testimony as “not credible."
Evangelos says questions about Flomenbaum’s credibility continue to concern him. He pointed to a 2016 letter from the Connecticut Attorney General, who wrote to Janet Mills -- then the state's attorney general and now governor -- to warn her about Flomenbaum’s “diminished” credibility.”
"I think the implications were clear," Evangelos said. "His credibility got demolished in this case. Maine criminal defense lawyers will become aware of this and consequently they will be making motions in court to question the veracity of his testimony."
Most recently, Flomenbaum’s findings that a man who died while hiking the Appalachian Trail had been drinking were called into question in a Bangor Daily News story. Forensic experts hired by the family -- who said the man was diabetic -- and by the newspaper said that when a body decomposes, detectable alcohol is created in the body.
Evangelos said Flomenbaum's findings in that case showed clearly why the job advertisement was so inappropriate.
"So, any time a family loses somebody and that deceased person is subjected to the findings of the medical examiner's office, here we have the professional running that agency making jokes about deceased individuals," he said.
The Judiciary Committee, on which Evangelos serves, oversees both the office of the attorney general and the chief medical examiner’s office. He said, however, that any disciplinary action the state might take would result from "a conversation between the governor and the attorney general."
Meanwhile, Evangelos said he's been assured by Frey that the investigation into his complaints is nearing an end.
Calls and emails to Flomenbaum’s office on Thursday were not returned.