Professional Career

MY LAW ENFORCEMENT CAREER

I believe the most important qualities of an elected Sheriff are experience and knowledge of law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and the communities they serve.

I started my law enforcement career in 2000, when I was hired as a Patrol Officer for the Town of Camden, Maine, and graduated from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy's 96th Municipal County Basic Police School in 2001. I served there for several years in patrol before being promoted to Patrol Supervisor in 2010. I also became certified as a terminal operator and worked as a per diem dispatcher for the town.

Working in Camden was great, but I have had a personal goal of completing a college degree since childhood. In 2013, life presented me with an opportunity to attain this goal full-time, so I took it; however, life has a funny way of throwing us curveballs, and in the spring of 2014, I found myself needing a steady income to support my family and had to pause my education.

In June of 2014, I joined the Knox County Sheriff's Office, under Sheriff Dennison, as a Patrol Deputy, working as a Contract Deputy on the island Town of North Haven, Maine. I have remained full-time at Knox CSO since then and have been promoted a couple of times, serving as a Patrol Supervisor and Patrol Administrator.

In 2019, Sheriff Tim Carroll appointed me his Chief Deputy. As Chief Deputy, I would now also be responsible for corrections matters and assisting the Sheriff in managing and supervising the Knox County Jail. Though not required, I felt that if I was going to manage and supervise corrections officers, I should also be certified; I graduated from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy's 61st Basic Corrections Training Program in 2021.

In July 2022, I was appointed Sheriff of Knox County after the Sheriff resigned to become the police chief for the City of Rockland. In November 2022, I was elected by the citizens of Knox County to serve as their next Sheriff.

I have many accomplishments and recognitions throughout my career in law enforcement, but the most rewarding for me was my time spent as an impaired driving specialist. I started with the basics of standardized field sobriety testing and breath testing early in my career at Camden P.D., and trained until I became proficient enough to become a certified drug recognition expert. I also became an instructor in impaired driving detection and chemical testing, earning a position as a lead instructor for the Maine Criminal Justice Academy's Impaired Driving Education Program.

Throughout my career, I have attended several first-line and executive leadership courses and have successfully applied those lessons to real-life scenarios. In an effort to give back, I serve as an instructor in the Maine Criminal Justice Academy's Supervisory and Leadership Development Program, helping to equip our future law enforcement leaders with knowledge gained from real-world experience.

MY MILITARY CAREER

A significant part of who I am and what I bring to the Sheriff's position stems from my military service.

In May 1995, I turned 18 and immediately enlisted in the United States Army with the intention of joining a crash rescue team. Unfortunately, that profession was being downsized at the time, so I opted for the shortest enlistment and maximized G.I. Bill, taking a 3-year enlistment as a Cannon Crew Member. I excelled during my first enlistment; I was fast-tracked several times and was placed in several advanced and technical positions. I even made it to the top of the promotion list to Sergeant (E5), but I declined to reenlist because I was focused on returning home for a career in firefighting and EMS.

While home in college studying fire and EMS, I was recruited into the Maine Army National Guard. My thought was: why not make some extra money, continue to excel in a job I am proficient at, while only having to serve one weekend a month and two weeks a year? So I enlisted as a technical engineer.

College did not work out as I had intended; I ended up pursuing fire and EMS as a per diem volunteer rather than full-time. However, I enjoyed technical engineering, and my leadership believed I was good enough, so I was hired as a temporary federal employee. I worked in this role for about a year before being hired at Camden P.D. I remained a technical engineer in the Maine Army National Guard, though, continuing to serve as a "Weekend Warrior."

On September 11, 2001, the concept of "Weekend Warrior" abruptly changed; we are now at war, and eventually in two global locations. During these wars, I was slated for five deployments but deployed only twice: the first in 2006 as a technical engineer with the 240th EN GP supporting Combined Task Force Chamberlain as a Section Sergeant; the second as a military police officer with the 1136th TC supporting force protection in the Kabul Base Cluster as a Platoon Sergeant.

I remained in the Maine Army National Guard until 2016, when I retired after more than 21 years of combined service. During my service, I was promoted several times, retiring at the rank of First Sergeant/Master Sergeant (E-8), and served in several leadership positions. I also trained as a logistics specialist and worked in that role for a few years.

Though I did several things during my time, the most rewarding were my leadership positions. There really is nothing better than preparing junior staff to be our future leaders!

MY TIME IN FIRE AND EMS

As the saying goes, public service is in my blood. I grew up surrounded by public servants; my parents were firefighters and EMTs, as were many of my family members and neighbors. At the age of 16, I joined the St. George Fire Department and the St. George Volunteer Firemen's Association as a junior firefighter, assisting adult first responders with various support functions during training and active incidents.

During my active-duty service with the U.S. Army, I remained on the roster in St. George as an inactive firefighter. After returning home, I completed the Firefighter I and II courses and also obtained my EMT-Basic license. I served in this capacity for almost 20 years, responding to many emergency incidents. I also attended several advanced training courses that helped me hone my skills in both professions. I eventually "retired" from this work due to the increased demands from my military and law enforcement careers.