CHARLOTTE THOMSON ISERBYT TESTIMONY IN OPPOSITION TO NOMINATION OF FORMER PORTLAND POLICE CHIEF MICHAEL SAUSCHUCK TO BE MAINE’S COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
Friday, February 1, 2019, 11 a.m. State House, Augusta, Maine.
Good morning. My name is Charlotte Iserbyt. I live in Dresden, Maine. My family has lived in Maine since 1971. I have served overseas during the Korean War, in the U.S. Department of State overseas (South Africa and Belgium); as an elected school board member (Camden/Rockport/SAD28), and as Sr. Policy Advisor in the U.S. Department of Education in the Reagan Administration. I am the author of the “deliberate dumbing down of America”, 1999.
I am putting the following italicized paragraph, the first paragraph of my testimony, up front, since it is probably the most important part of my testimony. Who knows if the fire alarm might just go off in the State House and all of us would have to be evacuated?
Also, I am attaching to my testimony my resume published at Wikipedia and an article entitled “U.S. and Maine Constitutions Dead in Maine”, published at Rense.com on the Internet (altmedia) which covers background regarding both attempted murders, some of my telephone conversation with Deputy Attorney General Lisa Marchese, including Marchese’s lies. This Rense.com article contains link, under bloody jeans image, to audio where patrolmen discuss “popping Sam in the head”.
Sam and I believe that it is the responsibility of the duly-elected members of this committee, prior to any vote on the Governor’s nomination of former Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck to be chief of Maine public safety and criminal justice, to call for an extremely thorough investigation (external/unbiased) of former Police Chief Michael Sauschuck’s background and credentials for the position.
Are members of this committee aware of Sauschuck’s role in and cover up of two murder attempts on my son, Samuel Iserbyt, and in the violation by former Attorney General Janet Mills, now Governor of Maine, and Cumberland County District Attorney’s office of many of Sam’s rights under the U.S. and Maine Constitutions? All persons involved in any way, who participated in any way (involved in cover up of both attempted murders or witnesses to incidents) must be included in this investigation. Sauschuck, as Captain of the ship overseeing the safety of Maine citizens, should be required to explain/justify his total silence regarding the two murder attempts which took place under his watch between October 2015 and today, Friday February 1, 2019. This investigation should be open to the public and covered by Maine, national and international media.
I am including the following three links posted on the Internet related to Maine’s Justice System and the dismal record of the Portland Police Department in solving homicides. Please click on three links below.
Link #1: https://rense.com/general96/hurley1.html
The important patrolman’s “pop Sam in the head” audio recording, which was inadvertently given to Sam by the District Attorney’s office, can be heard by clicking the audio link directly below the image of Sam’s bloody jeans (to the left).
Text of audio tape patrolmen planning to murder Sam in October 2015. Hard to transcribe, but think this is correct:
Link #2: https://rense.com/general96/HurleyRiderPPD1.mp3
Jason Hurley: “Fucking snyke…Huh? Tommi…”
Matthew Rider: “Graham’s talking to Chief…not federal now.”
Hurley: “I figured you could drive me around front and if he had moved I could have popped him in the head right there…that was my plan…”
Matthew Rider: “Chief…”
Jason Hurley: “You did it yourself. I was already to go.”
Matthew Rider: “Graham’s (Graham Hults) talking to him (chief) on the phone (from police hdqs.) Wonder what the Chief thinks?
Please click on two following links regarding situation in Maine related to “Integrity” and “Justice System”:
Maine Gets F Grade in 2105 State Integrity Investigation – https://publicintegrity.org/accountability/maine-gets-f-grade-in-2015-state-integrity-investigation/
Nearly half of Portland’s murder cases from the last decade are unsolved – https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/nearly-half-of-portlands-murder-cases-from-the-last-decade-are-unsolved/97-515331788
Here are 3 important quotes (a, b, anc c) from Maine News Center gal and Portland Maine Asst. Police Chief’s Verne Malloch’s responses to “Nearly half murder cases…” interview. My response to quotes is in bold italics.
(a) Asst. Chief Malloch: “Statistically, if you haven’t been able to develop a suspect within the first 48 hours, it is going to be a difficult case to prove, and we certainly see that on a regular daily basis.”
Iserbyt: The suspect in Sam’s case, Frederick Otis Dodge, was developed (identified) within not just the first 48 hours, but within the first twenty minutes.
(b) News Center gal: “In the 10 year period (2007-2017) Portland Police Dept. solved 67% of its homicide cases which is 6 percent lower than national average; 30 percent lower than State of Maine average; and 43 percent lower than Bangor average.”
Iserbyt: The period 2007-2017 (NewsCenter date) is exactly the period during which former Police Chief Sauschuck served as Portland’s Police Chief. Sauschuck joined PPD in 1997, serving as a patrolman until appointed in 2012 as Portland Police Chief. So, the increase in unsolved homicides committed in Portland during Sauschuck’s time in office (2012-2019) are the ones Mainers should be questioning, although this report goes only through 2017.
(c)Police Chief Malloch: “It’s up to witnesses to come forward.”
Iserbyt: Where was Asst. Chief Malloch the night of “suspect” Frederick Otis Dodge’s murderous attack on my son, Samuel Iserbyt? I guess he didn’t know that there were at least five signed eye witness statements regarding Dodge coming down the street, brandishing a gun, threatening to murder Sam, trespassing on his porch, shooting him through the femoral artery and watching Sam drop on the porch? These eye witnesses were never called to testify at the Grand Jury Hearing.
Should you not have time to carefully read my testimony, the links above provide all information members of this committee really need to convince them a full impartial (external) investigation, open to the public and covered by the media, should take place prior to a vote on the suitability of Michael Sauschuck to be Maine’s Commissioner of Public Safety and Criminal Justice. Every single person, official and/or otherwise, involved or affected by the incident, must be called and allowed to testify.
“AND HERE’S THE REST OF THE STORY”
Police Chief Sauschuck was the Captain of the “Criminal Justice” ship in Portland, Maine. He was therefore responsible for what took place in his Department while he was serving as Captain of the ship.
Sauschuck from the time of the first attempted murder to this very day has not uttered a word, publicly at least, regarding the incidents. If he has not performed his job up to national police chief standards, he should not be on any list to head up Maine’s Safety and Criminal Justice System or any job related to public safety and criminal justice.
I have been researching Sauschuck’s career for the past three years, due to my son, Samuel, a U.S. Marines (Special Operations) who served in combat during the first Gulf War, having two attempts on his life in Portland, Maine. Old saying applies here: “You’ll know it’s true when it happens to you”…or a member of your family. The two attempts on Sam’s life implicated some, but by no means all members of the Portland Police Department , and please correct me if I am wrong, aren’t the Chief’s subordinates obligated to obey orders from no one but the Chief, or if the Chief is “out of town”, the Chief’s official representative. All statements and actions must be authorized by the Chief.
These two murder attempts were made within 8 months of one another: one in October 2015 and one on Memorial Day, May 30, 2016. Both attacks took place at Sam’s private residence on Chadwick Street, in Portland, Maine.
The first attack was, I believe, aborted by a patrolman with a brain and conscience; the second attack (shot through femoral artery) succeeded in Sam’s being declared in fourth stage hypovolemic shock which ordinarily results in death but due to the expertise of Maine Medical’s neurosurgeon, his trauma staff and God Almighty, Sam, although partially damaged for life, is with us today to speak before this committee.
Regarding “conscience”, let me make clear right now that there are many superb detectives and officers working for the Portland Police Department who demonstrated “conscience” related to the handling of the incident and subsequent handling of this case.
The former captain of the Ship of Portland’s so-called citizen safety lifeboat, Portland Police Dept., should not be made the Captain of the Ship of Maine’s so-called Public Safety and Criminal Justice lifeboat. Talk about putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop!
Of utmost importance is fact that after three years going up against Maine’s corrupt criminal justice system (from former Attorney General/now Governor Janet Mills, whose Deputy AG Lisa Marchese was involved in the “mishandling” of the Dodge/Iserbyt case, down to the lowliest ADA…read above Rense.com article) the corrupted system successfully wiggled its way out of arresting, charging, and putting in jail Frederick Otis Dodge, originally considered “suspect of elevated aggravated assault” on my son, thus trashing forever the initial Suspect Description Form filled in by Lt. Det. Rick Beaumont the night of the murder, and all the official citizen and police eye witness Incident Reports painstakingly put together by members of PPD with a conscience.
Finally, when the word started to leak out across the country and world, through alternative internet and my interviews regarding what really had happened, the court, in a neat and tidy move, slammed the door on the case simply by sealing the Dodge/Iserbyt case files. On whose orders was the sealing done? Exactly who denied the motion by our attorney to open the files? My Sam has nothing to hide since he was the victim of the Memorial Day attempted murder and didn’t even bother to defend himself by shooting Dodge, who according to eye witnesses came down Chadwick Street, brandishing a gun, threatening to murder him, trespassed on his porch and shot him through the femoral artery. If Sam has nothing to hide, who, within Maine’s Judiciary System, has much to hide, and what do they have to hide?
The refusal to unseal this case is a clear violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press and citizens’ right to know.
Here is my take on how this whole tragic saga took place. My take comes from my heart. Yes, you can rightfully say my take is partially due to my being the mother of the victim. True. However, of greater importance is my concern regarding the continuation of government officials’ adherence to the protections given all Americans under the Constitutions of both the United States of America and the State of Maine.
***
The following is a capsule picture of the past over three years of Sam’s and my family’s lives which were turned upside down (physically, emotionally, legally, financially and quite importantly, reputation wise) in October 2015 and especially on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, 2016.
There has not been a day or night that we have not been emotionally drained by the non-closure of the outrageous miscarriage(s) of justice referenced above. As you read this testimony, please substitute your family for my family. That will help you understand the gravity of the decision each one of you will make regarding who you choose to name Captain of Maine’s Safety and Criminal Justice Ship.
***
At 12:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, May 31, 2016, I awakened and not being able to get back to sleep went into the kitchen to brew a cup of tea. Out of the blue, the phone rang and I received a call from a neurosurgeon at Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine, informing me that my son, Samuel, had survived extensive surgery due to a gunshot wound through the femoral artery. I immediately drove to the hospital where I was able to be with Sam, still unconscious, but when I squeezed his hand, he did respond to me, letting me know he was still alive and aware of my presence. His condition was critical.
Why was I not immediately informed by someone regarding what had happened four hours earlier at 8:30 p.m. May 30, 2016 when my son was shot so that I could be with him during the very likely last moments of his life? Why was a priest not called in to administer “last rights”?
The ambulance and subsequent hospital reports revealed that Sam upon EMS arrival at hospital was in fourth stage hypovolemic shock which ordinarily results in death. It took the ambulance 37 (thirty-seven minutes; over one half hour!) to deliver someone bleeding to death from a gunshot wound through the femoral artery to a hospital that is only three houses from Sam’s house?
“They” planned for Sam to be dead. Dead men don’t talk.
Here is a brief quote from 6/10/16 excellent coverage of incident by Matt Byrne of the Portland Press Herald. Byrne’s article is the first and only honest major media coverage of incident that strongly suggests that Sam did NOT shoot himself in the femoral artery. You can access that article by typing following words into search engine: Iserbyt Dodge Portland Press Herald 6/10/16.
“As the man became increasingly hostile, Iserbyt trained the rifle’s laser sight on the man’s forehead. The man then walked up the porch steps and grabbed the barrel of the rifle, twisted it out of Iserbyt’s hands and tossed it into the bushes. Iserbyt reached for his handgun, and the two struggled over it.
“He grabs at it, and the next thing I know I’ve got a bullet in my femoral artery and through my butt,” Iserbyt said. “I had full control of the situation, I just didn’t want to be involved with pulling that trigger.”
There were several superb officers and detectives who, at all odds, displayed conscience and told the truth about the who, what, where, and how the tragic situations evolved and how they were deliberately mishandled and covered up.
As of now, no one in Maine State Government or in Maine, knows who “officially” gave the orders to kill my son (October, 2015 and May 31, 2016). The official “who-dunnit” version, has been accepted by citizens of Maine through limited/untrue media reports (provided the media by Portland Police Dept. or Cumberland County District Attorney). The subsequent media reports that Sam, a U.S. combat Marine, somehow managed to point his own gun into his femoral artery and pull the trigger is utterly pathetic. This is a lie, and due to Sam’s knowledge of use of firearms, a totally ridiculous lie.
Our family wants to know who is No. 1 in charge of the initial reporting of criminal activity in the City of Portland, Maine: former Police Chief Michael Sauschuck or the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office. Or some other alphabet soup agency? Who takes orders from whom?
Here is relevant text from Maine Chiefs Code of Ethics
http://www.mainechiefs.com/about-mcpa/code-of-ethics
Code of Ethics
We will put honesty, truth and justice above all other considerations, and we will not allow friendship, enmity, social position, political influence, nor personal motives to swerve us from the impartial performance of duty.
We will observe all the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and will never illegally deprive any person of any right guaranteed by this great document
Former Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck, who is known for calling press conferences for far less serious incidents, has never, not once, opened his mouth regarding the two murder attempts on my son in Portland, Maine: the most recent Memorial Day 2016 very serious murder attempt; and one that was aborted seven months earlier in October 2015 due to what appear to be second thoughts of a patrolman with a conscience.
It is obvious that PPD Chief Sauschuck has at the very least, overseen, if not planned, the two attempted murders, the violation of many of my son’s Constitutional rights, and participated in the resulting state and national “media cover-up” of both incidents, and, incidentally, in the illegal defamation of our family’s name and character.
Who EXACTLY was responsible for firing the first shot over the bow of justice in Portland, Maine?
What kind of example does Sauschuck, nominated by former Attorney General Governor Mills to be Maine’s head of public safety, set for Maine’s police, many of whom are fully dedicated to the protection of Maine citizens’ Constitutional rights?
As far as former Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson is concerned, she instructed one of her Asst. District Attorneys, shortly after attempted murder, to inform Sam that the District Attorney’s office could not charge Frederick Otis Dodge with elevated aggravated assault since the D.A. did not have enough evidence to get a unanimous vote at final jury trial, which was misleading since there were at least five eye witness statements and relevant documentation contained in official Cumberland County Discovery Materials! Also, much evidence, including Sam’s bloody clothes, broken cell phone, and gun that shot Sam, has not been tested. The Asst. D.A. who was sent on her mission by District Attorney Anderson, said the D.A.’s office refused to test any evidence, stating that all evidence was “presumptive.”
Sam, his attorney, and I were informed one week prior to Grand Jury hearing, by Asst. District Attorney Johnathan Sahrbeck, who was named prosecutor of the case, that the above-mentioned ADA later stated:
“Maybe we should take another look at this case; I may have been mistaken.” This particular Asst. District Attorney, who had been initially mislead (lied to?) by D.A. Stephanie Anderson, proved that she has guts and a huge conscience.
I, Sam’s Mom, two days after the incident, after Lt. Det. Sweatt’s (now Commander Sweatt) request in the Portland Press Herald for tips from anyone who had information re the shooting, emailed Sweatt and several top members of the PPD police detective unit and District Attorney Anderson, requesting they contact me, that I was concerned with the way the case was being handled, and wanted to meet with them IMMEDIATELY. No response received.
One of the officers I emailed was Det. Rick Beaumont who initially (the night of murder attempt?) provided what probably is the most important piece of paper (evidence), other than signed eye witness statements, related to the cover-up of what happened. This very important piece of paper was trashed, on whose orders?
This piece of paper said in effect:
Lt. Det. Beaumont’s Suspect Description Report named Frederick Otis Dodge as “suspect of elevated aggravated assault” on my son, Samuel Iserbyt, listed as “victim”.
This piece of paper never saw the light of day. A decision was made at top level (Chief Sauschuck and/or District Attorney Anderson, et al) to bury it and to accept Dodge’s pre-planned lying version of the incident called into 911 ten minutes after shooting, that Sam had shot himself in the leg. Dodge had also, interestingly enough, made one non-dispatch and one dispatch call to PPD several days prior to incident. Why? We still wonder exactly “who” Dodge was calling on the “non-emergency” line to the Police Department.
Had it not been for my calling Lt. Det. Rick Beaumont, and, mistakenly, getting through to Sgt. Det. Dean Goodale, Supervisor of the Crime Scene, I would never have had the truth regarding what happened. Detective Goodale’s honesty and professionalism (related exactly to what happened that tragic night) enabled our family to partially survive the legal, medical, and emotional turmoil over the past three years.
Sgt. Det. Goodale, present at scene of crime, obtained signed eye witness reports from at least five persons, including that of Sam’s neighbor who had a bird’s eye view of the entire incident. She is the witness who called into 911 and recounted over the phone, in real time, the incident prior to Dodge’s stepping onto property; his brandishing and pointing a gun; threatening to murder my son; terrorizing the community; and his trespassing on my son’s porch and attacking him, ultimately shooting him through the femoral artery. She documented the murderer’s immediate escape, leaving Sam to die in a pool of blood.
[This case, where eye witness statements were considered irrelevant, could result in Americans not being willing to provide important eye witness statements to the police which could set an important legal precedent nationwide, if not challenged by the American people, the courts, and the press. Is it too far fetched to predict that vital eye witness testimony may no longer be accepted by juries in the USA, with Maine, as usual, setting an important negative precedent for the rest of the country?]
Detective Dunham (retired shortly after incident) interviewed Dodge about five hours after incident. Dunham on several occasions accused Dodge of lying , but very curiously at end of interview, shortly after surgeon and his team had succeeded in bringing Sam back to life, said “If I were you, I wouldn’t lose much sleep over this.”
Sam is alive to speak to you today (in person) simply due to the life saving expertise of Patrolman Michael Bennis who, first on crime scene, applied a tourniquet to Sam’s bleeding artery; Maine Medical’s expert trauma surgeon, his trauma team, and Almighty God.
Patrolman Bennis also, finally, after persistent questioning of Sam, who was dying, as to who shot him, elicited truth from Sam that Fred Dodge shot him. This vital truth was immediately swept under the rug by the Police Department and District Attorney’s office on whose orders?
The grand jury hearing called for by DA Stephanie Anderson, after being steered by ADA Sahrbeck, indicted both Dodge (the shooter) and Iserbyt (the victim) with “criminal threatening and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon” thus changing Sam, for the first time, from “victim” to “suspect”.
ADA (prosecutor) Sahrbeck even had the gall to ask Sam (victim) as he looked at members of the jury, whether Sam really recalled correctly what Bennis had said. He even handed Sam a Kleenex in case Sam broke down under the questioning. The District Attorney accepted Chief Sauschuck’s departmental version of the story, trashed Patrolman Bennis’s eye witness and other witness statements and substituted all the aforementioned witness testimony with Dodge’s pre-planned lie called into 911 five-ten minutes after he shot Sam, that “Sam had shot himself in the leg”.
Patrolman David Argitis, unelected Director of the West End Neighborhood Association (WENA Community Oriented Policing System …COPS…public/private partnership) included the minutes of WENA’s monthly meeting on WENA’s Website one week after the attempted murder. The minutes contained Dodge’s lie. This lying report was published two weeks before the excellent PPD Incident Report which referred to Dodge “suspect” and Sam as “victim” of elevated aggravated assault and which included all police and citizen signed eye witness statements/incident reports.
Portland Police Dept. Attorney Poliquin recently informed Sam’s attorney that Argitis refuses to speak to Sam’s attorney who has called and emailed him several times (to no avail) requesting a return phone call regarding incorrect (libelous) information published in WENA’s Monthly Report. I would assume that officer Argitis was directed by someone (Chief Sauschuck or a spokesperson for Sauschuck) in order to publish the minutes of the meeting on the Internet.
D.A. Anderson, prior to Grand Jury hearing, provided Dodge, who had not been arrested or charged, with a well known attorney, Neale Duffett, as Dodge’s public defender, a move which PPD Attorney Poliquin told us was extremely unusual. Why would Maine taxpayers want to pay for the defense of someone (Dodge) who hasn’t been arrested or charged?
Frederick Otis Dodge, to this very day, was never arrested or charged, and is walking the streets of USA free, with a gun. Two top detectives in PPD later told Sam and me that Dodge should have been arrested on the spot not only for elevated aggravated assault (included in PPD Det. Kelly Gorham’s signed affidavit night of incident, signed by U.S. District Judge Lance Walker) but, at the very minimum, for terrorizing the community (coming down the street brandishing a gun while threatening to murder Sam, and for trespassing on Sam’s property, facts attested to by all eye witnesses. When Sam asked a third highly experienced PPD detective what police would ordinarily do when faced with a similar situation, his response was “shoot him”.
Eye witness reports and Bennis’s calls to EMS made shortly after the murderous attack were ignored with EMS’s deliberate delay of 35 minutes in getting Sam to the hospital.
When trauma surgeon and his team brought Sam back to life, it is apparent that the Attorney General’s office, Chief Sauschuck, some of his PPD “team”, and the District Attorney’s office went into immediate massive cover-up mode: trashed the excellent PPD report, which named Sam as “victim” and Dodge as “suspect” and called for a Grand Jury Hearing which, upon instructions from ADA prosecutor Sahrbeck, indicted BOTH Sam and Dodge with “criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon” and “reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon”, thus changing Sam from “victim” to “suspect”, making Sam co-equal with Fred Dodge who attempted to murder Sam.
Such an investigation should, aside from questioning Chief Sauschuck on the two murder attempts discussed in this testimony, question him on his understanding of the primary role of a Police Chief to keep citizens safe and informed and to follow protections guaranteed Americans under the U.S. and Maine Constitutions, many of which were denied Sam.
He should be questioned as well regarding Maine citizen gun rights under the Second Amendment to the Constitution. Sauschuck wants to restrict Maine citizens’ gun rights and has publicly stated that he is not in favor of Maine’s current laws, wishing to add heavy restrictions to those laws. My son, when Dodge came down the street brandishing a gun, threatening to kill him, decided not to assert this right, not believing Fred, who he had known in the past, would every carry out such a heinous crime.
And, by the way, for those who have been told this incident had to do with a “love triangle”, that is a bunch of hogwash. Don’t buy into that pathetic cooked up story. Proof for my labeling that lie “hogwash” is PPD’s failed attempt to kill Sam seven months earlier which is recorded on PPD audiotape. The first incident proves “intent”, intention carried out on Memorial Day, 2016. This October 2015 incident was NOT referred to as a “love triangle” incident. Sometimes “they” slip up! Be sure to listen carefully to conversation between Patrolmen Hurley and Ryder; audio link in Rense.com article (directly below image of Sam’s bloody jeans) for conversation between two patrol officers related to first murder attempt on Sam. This audio was mistakenly included in Discovery Materials given to Sam by the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office related to a misdemeanor case involving Chief Sauschuck’s wife, PPD Detective Mary Sauschuck, which Sam managed to get dismissed on his own. Here is text of audio:
Patrolman Hurley: “If he’d moved, I would have popped him in the head. That was my plan… You (Ryder) did it…I was going…”;
Patrolman Ryder: “Hultz is on phone with the Chief.”
Thank you for your attention to this extremely important matter. I look forward to hearing from each one of you to discuss any questions you may have regarding my testimony. Official District Attorney Discovery Materials are available upon request.
What Sam and I are telling this committee today is the truth and whole truth, so help us God.
Sincerely,
Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt
519 River Road
Dresden, Maine 04342
207-737-4730