The former Franklin County assistant district attorney convicted for her role in a conspiracy involving the cultivation and sale of marijuana in violation of Maine’s medical marijuana laws is asking to be reinstated as a lawyer.
Kayla Alves is still serving her sentence. She was sentenced in August 2022 to two years of probation and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine after she pleaded guilty to tampering with documents as part of a plea agreement.
Federal prosecutors had found that Alves tipped off a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy, Bradley Scovil, about how he was being investigated for his role in a $13 million marijuana operation run by Lucas Sirois of Farmington. She then deleted her text messages, concealing the evidence from federal investigators.
In November 2022, the Supreme Judicial Court suspended Alves from practicing as a lawyer for nine months. She filed a petition for reinstatement with the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar on Wednesday.
“Kayla has a lot still to give to the legal community. She paid her dues and then some and wants to be allowed to practice law again,” said her attorney, Walter McKee.
The Supreme Judicial Court found that Alves violated duties to the public and the profession by knowingly destroying evidence during the course of a criminal investigation, reflecting poorly on her “honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.”
Alves was fired from her job on Oct. 29, 2021, after she was charged with one count of tampering with proceedings and one count of tampering with documents that same month. She had served as an assistant district attorney since 2018.
Alves’ firing came two days after it was made public that she and 12 others, including local law enforcement officers and government officials, were charged in connection with the marijuana operation.
