HOULTON, Maine — New details from court records have emerged regarding Houlton Town Manager Cameron Clark’s arrest last week on domestic violence and victim tampering charges.
Clark, who remains on the job, was arrested and jailed on Thursday afternoon by the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office during a downtown Houlton tour by Gov. Janet Mills. Despite a felony charge, Clark will maintain his position with the town, according to town officials.
“The Council acknowledges that the charges brought against Mr. Clark are of a personal nature,” Town Council Chairperson Jane Torres said Friday.
A 24-page police affidavit the Bangor Daily News obtained Monday recounts explicit details of the Sept. 12 incident alleging Clark repeatedly shoved a woman with both hands backward off his porch, the final thrust allegedly catapulting her into the bushes.
“It was forceful enough of a push that my shoes and glasses went flying off,” the victim said in a written statement to Deputy Benjamin Boutilier. “After landing on the ground, it took me several minutes to get up. It had knocked the wind out of me.”
The victim and another witness told police that she had injured her tailbone, making it difficult to walk the following day, as well as bruising on her buttocks which Chief Deputy Sheriff Erica Pelletier photographed, the police report said.
According to Pelletier’s report, there were multiple bruises to the right of a very large purple bruise.
Boutilier obtained an arrest warrant on Thursday, following a lengthy investigation that included in-person interviews with the victim, two witnesses and Clark, as well as reports from the Houlton Police Department and search warrants for Clark’s property and Snapchat conversations between Clark and the victim following the alleged incident.
The tampering with a victim charge against Clark is a Class B felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. The domestic violence charge is a Class D misdemeanor.
Clark was appointed town manager in Houlton earlier this year after Jeremy Smith unexpectedly resigned from the role in December 2024. He was initially appointed interim town manager in January, then officially appointed in April.
In the eight months since then, Houlton has come under fire in several ways, including from residents concerned about the town’s controversial surveillance camera system. The town has spent most of its annual legal budget defending itself against court appeals from two residents who have sought records from the town, and First Amendment experts have questioned the constitutionality of a new public comment procedure for Town Council meetings.
The charges against Clark did not originate from the victim because she feared that in his role as town manager he would ruin her reputation and prevent her from employment in the town, the police report said.
Houlton police received an anonymous complaint in which the unidentified caller said that the town manager had pushed a woman down the stairs when she confronted him about cheating with a married woman.
Houlton Police Captain Jasmine Cyr told Pelletier and Boutilier that the caller said Clark threatened to make sure the woman did not get a job she had recently applied for and that she would never work at another job in the Town of Houlton if she reported the incident. If she did report it, he would claim the whole thing was self-defense, according to the affidavit.
On Sept. 23, Boutilier obtained a search warrant for Clark’s property and the Snapchat contents from Maine District Court Judge Carrie Linthicum. Those results were not immediately available in court documents.
On the same day, the deputy called Clark and asked him to come speak with him at the sheriff’s office. Before meeting with the deputy, Clark allegedly contacted the victim via Facebook Messenger, asking her to come with him for the interview. He also contacted her place of employment looking for her that day, the police report said.
Boutilier advised the victim to not take any calls from Clark.
During his interview, Clark told Boutilier, “When she was being restrained, she had one foot or however that happened, off the back of the entrance of the threshold of the door and at that point balance was gone,” according to court records.
He admitted that he had his hands on her trying to restrain her and they were both shoving each other.
Regarding the alleged threats, what he said regarding connections in town was related to the businesses he owned, not related to his role as town manager, Clark told police. Then he began detailing the relationships with local banks.
“So that’s where the nature of the intimidation may come from is I do have [large] relationships with this new institution that she’s applying for,” he said.
The Town Council has called a special meeting with the town attorney and town manager for 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, at the council chambers.
“The council will monitor the situation and reassess his employment status as the court makes its decision regarding the charges,” Torres said Friday, prior to a public Town Council meeting.
“In accordance with the law, which states that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, the Council believes that these matters will be appropriately addressed and resolved through the legal process.”
