SOUTH PORTLAND – Things have gone from bad to worse for two members of South Portland’s prominent Maietta family.

Following the five-month suspension on April 2 of a city license for the Maietta Towing wrecker service, Vincent and Robert Maietta were indicted by the Cumberland County grand jury June 7 on charges they committed perjury. According to South Portland Police Department spokesman Sgt. Steven Webster, the Maiettas were charged with lying under oath during the March 25 and April 1 hearings at which the wrecker license was up for review, following a resident complaint that they had, in the words of City Clerk Susan Mooney, “grossly overcharged” for service.

Neither Maietta retuned multiple calls requesting comment left with their answering services Monday and Tuesday. Police Chief Ed Googins was unavailable for comment following a death in the family.

“The reason this happened is, following the second hearing on April 1, both of the Maiettas came into the police department and filed a complaint against an officer,” said Webster. “That necessitated an internal investigation, which we are obligated to do. As a result, the video of the hearing was watched and watched and it appears some of the things the Maiettas said may not have been exactly accurate.”

Tamara Getchell, spokeswoman for the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office, said Monday that because grand jury proceedings are confidential, she could not say what, precisely, the Maiettas are accused of lying about.

A case file had not been prepared by Cumberland County Unified Court as of Monday, and Getchell said the DA’s office did not yet have a date for a first court appearance by either Maietta.

Perjury is a class C felony in Maine, punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines.

“There is a difference between he-said/she-said, or a difference of opinion,” said Webster. “That wasn’t the case here. These were some things that we would have had to prove were not true and I think we have done that and that the grand jury obviously saw some credence in what was presented.

“What I can say is that this wasn’t done out of retribution, or hard feelings, or because they filed a complaint,” said Webster. “It was because there was a process at a hearing at which everyone was sworn to tell the truth, and it doesn’t appear that happened.

“The only thing we’d like to stress is that the perjury charge is a small piece of a larger pie,” said Webster. “When we receive complaints of any kind, we have to do something. I think a fair and thorough investigation was done here, on all sides.”

The road to the perjury charge began with a two-vehicle accident on Broadway on March 1. According to Mooney’s April 2 Notice of Decision that pulled Maietta’s license, the bill given to one of the drivers involved in that incident, Alex Anastasoff, was “intentionally padded” by a Maietta employee.

That was done, Mooney wrote, “in response to a claim by Mr. Anastasoff that the employee had stolen a radio out of his truck while it was in the impound yard,” maintained by Maietta on Pleasant Hill Road in Scarborough. To compound matters, wrote Mooney, “Another Maietta employee who runs the business office approved the overcharge despite Mr. Anastasoff’s vigorous objection.”

Anastasoff subsequently complained to the city about his $1,425 bill. South Portland licenses a dozen wrecker services to respond to calls from the city or the police department. In cases where a motorist is unable to place his or her own call for service, for reasons including arrest or incapacitation due to an accident, a city ordinance controls the maximum tow companies can charge.

“Even when we provide a number to call, it’s a private transaction between the tow company and the citizen,” said Googins in a May 30 interview. “The ordinance exists to protect people who don’t have a choice, so that they don’t get gouged.”

City rates allow tow companies to charge $65 for daytime calls, $75 at night, and $25 per day for storage. There also is a $70-per-hour add-on if a vehicle is off-road, submerged, or requires other “special handling.” Following a March 25 hearing called to consider Anastasoff’s complaint, Mooney determined by should have been charged no more than $190.

Maietta maintains two separate companies, Maietta Towing and Pleasant Hill Towing, each using its own equipment. A common industry practice, this gives the parent organization two shots in the call rotation from police for wrecker services. According to Googins, Vincent Maietta is listed with the city as the owner of record of Maietta Towing, while Robert Maietta is the head of Pleasant Hill Towing, although he purportedly runs both services. At the March 25 hearing, Pleasant Hill Towing was not found to have processed any significant overcharges. However, the hearing was carried over to April 1 in order for the police department to conduct a full review of company receipts.

An investigation by South Portland police Sgt. Todd Barlow found that Maietta Towing also overcharged four other customers during a 45-day period ending April 1, billing a total of $1,060 in towing and impound fees that should have cost between $75 and $195 each, based on city rates.

The result was a suspension of Maietta’s license until Aug. 31, a $100 fine, and an order by Mooney to refund Anastasoff his $1,425.

Following the April 1 hearing, Googins ordered a review of all 12 wrecker services licensed by the city. While almost all were found to have overcharged by small amounts on their city-initiated tows, only one other, Arcee LLC, was “significantly out of line” with ordinance limits, said Googins.

The two wrecker services run by Arcee, InTown Towing and S&R Towing, were found to have charged $2,740 on seven calls for service between Jan. 1 and April 11 that should have netted billing of just $890. Following a May 30 hearing, both companies were assessed a $100 find and their city licenses were pulled until July 31.

For his part, Vincent Maietta took his concerns beyond a few stern words for city hall.

In an April 22 interview, Maietta claimed he and his brother, Robert, were verbally accosted by Barlow in a profanity-laced tirade during a recess in the April 1 proceedings, and again immediately afterward. Maietta subsequently filed a protection from harassment order against Barlow in Cumberland County Unified Court.

“This guy has been bullying me and my family for a long time,” he said at the time.

District Court Judge Jeffrey Moskowitz dismissed Maietta’s request on April 22.

On June 3, Googins said Maietta also filed a separate complaint against Barlow with his department.

“This is ongoing and it would be really inappropriate for me to comment at this time,” said Googins. “The only thing that is public on a police internal investigation is the results from it – any discipline – because it’s a personnel record. I know I sound like I’m avoiding your questions, but employees have certain rights and I have to make sure those are maintained for the officer that’s being accused.”

Webster said Tuesday the internal investigation “was been wrapped up,” although he was not aware of the results. Googins will release those results upon his return to work and may at that time also issue a press release on the Maietta perjury case, said Webster.

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