Former Buxton police officer pleads guilty to criminal charge for using BMV data to find ex-partner
BIDDEFORD — A former Buxton police officer has pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of criminal invasion of computer privacy after a prosecutor for the state said he used law enforcement data to find out where his ex-partner lived.
Andrew Ward changed his plea Monday morning, when he had been scheduled to begin a jury-waived bench trial in York County Superior Court.
The state agreed to dismiss three other misdemeanor counts against Ward, including one count each of domestic violence stalking, stalking and official oppression. He was ordered to pay a $500 fine and will surrender his certification to be a law enforcement officer in Maine.
Related
Former Buxton police officer accused of stalking ex using BMV database
Attorneys on both sides spent several hours with Superior Court Justice Richard Mulhern before they came to the agreement, and Ward’s attorney argued in earlier court records that the domestic violence allegations were unsupported because Ward’s ex-partner had also been initiating contact with him.
Mulhern said in court that he had given the lawyers an “indication” before the hearing of where he believed the case would end up, based on the evidence he had reviewed ahead of trial.
As Ward left the courtroom, his attorney Michael Cunniff said the dismissal of the three counts speaks to the quality of the state’s case. Ward pleaded not guilty and denied the state’s characterizations when he was charged in 2025.
Advertisement
Prosecutor Paul Cavanaugh said Monday that prosecuting the case shows the state’s willingness to hold its law enforcement officers accountable.
“The system has to monitor itself and be willing to deal with people in the system that misuse the system,” Cavanaugh said after the hearing. “Otherwise, the public is going to have trust issues with the system.”
In court records, Cavanaugh argued that Ward searched repeatedly for the addresses of both his ex and her new partner using a Bureau of Motor Vehicles database that only certain government employees have access to.
Cunniff had asked that the computer privacy charge be dismissed earlier this year, arguing that home addresses are available in the public domain; Cavanaugh said it’s how Ward accessed the information that troubled him. The BMV database includes driver’s license and registration data, some of which is not public.
“He had too much access to too much information to allow him to use it in this manner,” Cavanaugh said.
Ward resigned from the Buxton Police Department in October 2024, the chief previously told a reporter, before the department could finish an internal investigation. He had previously worked for Cumberland County, Saco and the town of Harrison, according to an employment history provided by the Public Employee Retirement System.
Copy the Story Link
Tagged: Buxton Police Department, Data privacy, domestic violence, trial, york county
Emily Allen covers courts for the Portland Press Herald. It's her favorite beat so far — before moving to Maine in 2022, she reported on a wide range of topics for public radio in West Virginia and was. More by Emily Allen
