PORTLAND — A retired Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice has found that York County Judge of Probate Robert M.A. Nadeau has violated several canons of the judicial code, but did not violate some others.

Nadeau appeared before Active Retired Maine Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Clifford at a testimonial hearing at Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn on Feb. 23. The hearing followed a fact”“finding probe by the Maine Judicial Responsibility and Disability Committee, which alleged in a five count complaint that Nadeau violated a number of judicial canons that speak to integrity and decorum.

The findings, issued by Clifford on May 15 , will be reviewed by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court for a decision. Parties in the case, however, first have an opportunity to object, or ask for modifications or revisions to the report, a deputy clerk for the court said this morning.

Nadeau served as the county’s probate judge from about 1997 to 2008. He lost the 2008 election, but was elected again in November 2012 for a four-year term that began in January 2013. In Maine, probate judges work part-time and some, like Nadeau, maintain private law practices. Probate judges are the only elected judges in Maine.

Clifford found that Nadeau compromised the integrity of the judiciary and demeaned the judicial office in relation to a footnote to a letter he’d written to an attorney representing a his former fiancée, Lynnann Frydrych, with whom Nadeau was involved in a legal dispute. Nadeau was acting as his own attorney. The footnote refers to a reference made by attorney Gene Libby, who had evidently referred to Nadeau as “his eminence.” Clifford said Nadeau’s reference to that remark “inexplicability injects into a non”“probate matter a reference made by Mr. Libby to Judge Nadeau as a judge,” and therefore constitutes a violation.

Clifford found that there were no violations, as had been alleged, with the content of the body of the letter, or other aspects of the footnote.

As well, Clifford found there was no violation of the judicial code regarding Nadeau’s request for recusal of a judge scheduled to hear the legal dispute with Frydrych.

Nadeau did, however, violate judicial canons when he referred to a district court judge as “very female biased and unknowing,” according Clifford, who noted the judicial canons state that “a judge shall act at all times in a manner that promote public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary,” among others.

The judicial committee alleged Nadeau violated the judicial canon that spells out that judges “shall not lend the prestige of judicial office to advance the private interests of the judge” by maintaining a judicial website that contained a link to his law practice website.

Clifford agreed ”“ and noted that Nadeau had removed the link as soon as a complaint was filed. Clifford said the violation was not “egregious.” Clifford also said a similar complaint about a Facebook page was also a violation, but again, not an egregious one, and that the Facebook page was removed once a complaint was filed.

The Committee on Judicial Responsibility and Disability began investigating the allegations in late December 2012, when Libby and five other unnamed lawyers wrote a letter of complaint regarding the judicial website and Facebook page. Another complaint followed in March.

Clifford ordered some portions of the record sealed.

Nadeau previously ran afoul of the Judicial Code of Conduct in 2007, following a complaint by the judicial responsibility committee. At that time Nadeau, in his capacity as a judge, was censured by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and ordered suspended for 30 days for misrepresentations he made concerning his opponent in his 2004 pre”“primary election advertising.

As well as his prior censure, Nadeau was also the subject of two reprimands issued by Justice Donald Alexander of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in 2006 in connection with his conduct in his private practice. A third count was dismissed with a warning. Those complaints were brought by the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324”“4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282”“1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].