A federal judge on Thursday ordered Nathan Reardon be held in custody until his next hearing to determine whether or not he violated his conditions of supervised release.
Reardon was arrested Thursday morning during a meeting with his probation officer for allegedly violating the conditions of his supervised release. His attorney, Hunter Tzovarras, argued the evidence presented in federal court Thursday was too ambiguous to prove Reardon violated his conditions of release.
U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker sentenced Reardon to 20 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release on Nov. 3, 2022 for obtaining a $60,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan in 2020 by falsifying payroll information for his business. As part of his sentencing, the judge ordered Reardon to “dissolve any corporations and businesses that exist on the date of sentencing.”
A special condition of Reardon’s release also barred him from working for himself or starting any new business. While he was ordered to work upon his July release from federal custody, he can only work for a “disinterested third party.” But a Bangor Daily News investigation found Reardon continued operating companies he wasn’t supposed to be involved in.
In a petition to revoke Reardon’s supervised release, Mitchell Oswald, his probation officer, argued Reardon did not accurately report all of his financial information, continued operating businesses he formed despite a court order prohibiting him from working for himself or any blood relatives, and was found with multiple firearms in violation of another release condition.
A warrant was issued for Reardon’s arrest on Aug. 16, but he wasn’t arrested until Thursday morning when he was meeting with his probation officer.
Tzovarras contested the evidence in court. An Aug. 10 search of Reardon’s home found a Jennings pistol tucked in the glove compartment of a car parked in the driveway that belonged to Reardon’s father, the lawyer said.
The second gun, a loaded Ruger LCP pistol wrapped in a T-shirt that was found in a closet, belonged to Reardon’s wife and a stun gun found in the closet of the master bedroom inside Reardon’s home was simply a forgotten item that he didn’t recall being there, Tzovarras said.
However, federal prosecutor Andrew Lizotte provided evidence that Reardon purchased a Ruger LCP pistol in 2016, listed the same model firearm in a bankruptcy filing as an item that belonged to him, and showed that Reardon was found to be carrying a Ruger LCP pistol with the same amount of bullets in the magazine when he was arrested on state charges in 2021.
“That’s quite a coincidence,” Lizotte said.
Reardon’s failure to dissolve one remaining active company — Ultimate Property Holdings LLC — that was transferred to his father was not necessarily a violation of his supervised release conditions. Instead, Oswald did not provide enough clarity on whether or not that was acceptable, Tzvoarras said.
“Would it have been best, for clarification’s sake, if you had just responded and let him know that he would not be in compliance and he should have dissolved that company or have his father dissolve it at that point?” Tzovarras asked Oswald.
The condition of supervised release didn’t apply to Nathan Reardon’s father, so Oswald couldn’t compel Arthur Reardon to dissolve the company. Once the company was transferred, Nathan Reardon had no legal control over it, Oswald retorted.
“I don’t have any capacity to make his father do anything,” Oswald said. “It would be equal to un-taking drugs or un-robbing a bank. Once the violation has happened, it happened.”
Walker agreed with the government’s argument that there is enough probable cause to move the case forward to a revocation hearing which will ultimately determine whether Reardon serves more time in prison or not.
When it came to whether or not Reardon should be held in custody until that hearing, Walker also sided with the government’s argument that Reardon posed a danger to the public because of the firearm found in his home and his unwillingness to follow release conditions.
“It strikes me, based on the travel of this case, that Mr. Reardon views as somewhat suggestive and aspirational the necessity to comply with the court’s orders,” Walker said.