CLAREMONT – The former Parks and Recreation Director, who was charged with fraudulently using a municipal credit card after allegedly purchasing electronics for personal use, has pleaded not guilty.
Justin Martin, a 36-year-old Lebanon High School graduate hired as the Claremont recreation department supervisor of programs in 2012 and appointed director of the department in 2024, turned himself in to the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department in June.
He resigned from the department a month prior to his arrest on a charge of credit card fraud, a class A misdemeanor.
A preliminary investigation by Claremont Police Chief Brent Wilmot discovered a total of $975 in questionable purchases made using city accounts, the Valley News previously reported.
According to a letter Wilmot penned to the sheriff’s department requesting assistance with the case, the investigation began in early April when the city’s Information Technology director raised concerns about Martin’s use of city funds for personal purchases.
Martin’s alleged misappropriation of public funds included $90 for an external hard drive and around $160 on other items, including memory cards. Wilmot’s letter states that the city’s IT Director “has no knowledge of the Parks and Recreation Department using SD cards or external hard drives.”
Using a “Parks and Recreation Citizens Bank One Card Purchase Form” as supporting documentation to log the purchases, he allegedly listed the purpose of the transactions as “office supplies” using the general ledger account number from the Parks budget in the city’s general fund.
The investigation alleges that Martin purchased cell phone-related equipment for an iPhone, including battery charging cables, an OtterBox case, a camera lens protector, and screen protectors.
“Martin does not have a city-issued cellular phone, so the purchasing of this equipment with public funds, for Martin’s personal use, would be questionable,” Wilmot wrote in the letter.
Citing last year’s school district financial crisis and alleged misappropriation of public funds, Wilmot requested assistance from the sheriff’s department in taking over the investigation.
“In the interest of public transparency, the City of Claremont Police Department should not directly investigate this matter,” he wrote.
Wilmot’s “cursory check” of Martin’s use of public funds was limited, he wrote in the letter, to the City’s General Fund, not including the revenue account for Parks and Recreation, and “only looked back several months.”
“Martin has been in the role as the Director of Parks and Recreation, with access to public funds, since 2024,” Wilmot stated. “A full auditing of those accounts for that period is probably necessary, given the circumstances of this matter.”
Phone and email efforts to reach the City of Claremont and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department were not immediately successful on Tuesday.
At the end of July, Martin’s attorney, Kaylee Doty of Lothstein Guerriero in Keene, filed an entry of not guilty and a waiver of his arraignment, originally scheduled for Monday, in Claremont District Court.
A voicemail left for Martin and his attorney was not immediately returned.
Fraudulent use of a credit card, a class A misdemeanor, carries a penalty including jail time and a fine.
According to Martin’s LinkedIn page, he is currently working as a Production Supervisor at Whelen Engineering in Charlestown. A voicemail left for Whelen was not immediately returned.
There are no future court hearings scheduled in Martin’s case as of Tuesday.
