Maine State Prison Warden caught!

I just learned that Maine's attorney general has held void a real estate deal which Patricia Barnhart, (the state of Maine's prison warden) and her partner are (or were) going to benefit substantially from. The two recently purchased Maine real estate for a fraction of what the town of Thomaston had it assessed at!

I bet she hasn't even been fired yet, and won't be. Barnhart lived in one of the houses on the property, which she was going to try to subdivide apparently. The $175,000 purchase price is $283,000 less than the town-assessed value! Governor John Baldacci was still in office when the real estate company which negotiated the sale stepped in to "help" the state; one thing is sure, it helped itself to a hefty commission, while never marketing the property to the public. Quoting from the headline story:

In September, CBRE Boulos won the job of helping the state sell its real estate. The company had a marketing plan for the property in Thomaston, but the state never marketed it to the public.

 And from another story:

But Betty Lamoreau, the acting director of the Bureau of General Services, defended the sale as proper and said her agency was under pressure from the Legislature to sell properties to raise $1.5 million needed help balance the state budget.

And in case you prefer to watch the news rather than read it, here's a video for you.