Winter Harbor’s fire chief of the past eight years was arrested Monday after being indicted last week by a Hancock County grand jury.
Tatum McLean, 51, was indicted Friday on charges of forgery, unsworn falsification and theft by misapplication of property, according to the Hancock County District Attorney’s Office. The unsworn falsification charge is a misdemeanor but the forgery and theft charges are each Class C felonies.
Details of the charges were not available Monday. Documents were not available at the Hancock County Unified Criminal Court clerk’s office, and District Attorney Robert Granger declined to comment beyond confirming the indictment.
McLean, a Gouldsboro resident, has served as fire chief for the town of Winter Harbor since 2015 and, for the past year, has worked full time for the town as its fire chief, road commissioner and maintenance facilities director. He also previously worked as fire chief and emergency medical services director for the town of Gouldsboro but resigned those positions last year to work for Winter Harbor full time.
Cathy Carruthers, town manager for Winter Harbor, said Monday afternoon that she was still trying to get in touch with members of Winter Harbor’s board of selectmen to tell them about McLean’s arrest.
She said the board likely will discuss McLean’s position as fire chief, road commissioner and maintenance facilities director in executive session at its regular meeting on Wednesday.
“No decision has been made,” she said about McLean’s employment status with the town.
She had no comment about his arrest or about the allegations against him.
McLean is a licensed emergency medical technician and founded that town’s ambulance service, known as Schoodic EMS, when Ellsworth-based County Ambulance went out of business in 2018, Carruthers said. McLean also previously served as an EMT for the town of Winter Harbor, but now Winter Harbor contracts with Schoodic EMS for ambulance services, she said.
A conviction for a Class C felony can result in a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.