Reverend Stephen Foote of Bremen, 70, was arrested and charged with trafficking in prison contraband, a Class C crime, on November 1.

Following a joint investigation between the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, Two Bridges Regional Jail and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, it also resulted in charges being brought against two inmates at the Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.

Joshua Theriault Patten of Bremen, 25, and Adam Shawley of Newport, 27, were charged with attempted trafficking in prison contraband.

This was the result of a month-long investigation in trafficking of drugs, specifically suboxone, at the Two Bridges Regional Jail, according to Lieutenant Michael Murphy of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department. Suboxone is a drug used for treating patients with addictions to morphine, heroin, codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and other opiods, as well as for treating pain.

Foote was taken and bailed from the Sheriff’s Department and was not taken to the Two Bridges Regional Jail for booking.

“We made a tactical decision not to take him to the jail; the other two suspects had not been charged or interviewed and we did not want to alert them that an investigation was in process,” Murphy said.

“If Foote had not made bail, we would have housed him in another facility other than Two Bridges,” Murphy said.

In a statement Right Rev. Stephen T. Lane, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine said he received word Foote, a long-time priest of the diocese, had been arrested late in the afternoon of November 1.

According to the Bishop’s statement, Foote retired as Dean of The Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland in 2003. He recently served as transition priest-in-charge at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Augusta. He has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings. The Bishop’s office is providing pastoral care and support for the people of St. Mark’s.

“The Diocese of Maine will cooperate fully with the criminal investigation,” Lane said in his statement.

“The arrest automatically engages our Title IV proceedings, the disciplinary process for clergy that is canonically required by The Episcopal Church,” he said.

According to the statement issued, “The Bishop received this news with sadness and deep concern, and requests that Maine Episcopalians keep all parties in their prayers as they move through these difficult days.

Charlotte Boynton reached at 844-4632 or cboynton@wiscassetnewspaper.com.