Canaan
Among them was former Bernice A. Ray School Principal Matthew Laramie, who also is under investigation by the Hanover School District for allegedly misusing more than $30,000 in school funds.
In a telephone interview on Thursday, Canaan Police Chief Samuel Frank said his department has noticed human trafficking — primarily prostitution — has been going on in town, but he said his officers haven’t been able to catch someone in the middle of a transaction.
“We know things are going on, (but) what we know and what we can prove are two different things,” Frank said. “So, we decided we would try to take some active steps to deter that from happening.”
“The Canaan Police Department is committed to these types of investigations, as prostitution is a major component of human trafficking and drug use,” Frank wrote in the Wednesday news release announcing the three arrests.
Each of the men “responded” to undercover officers and offered to pay money for sex acts, Frank said. The details of how the department carried out the sting aren’t being divulged, Frank said, citing the ongoing investigation.
Frank said he believes Canaan residents are involved in human trafficking as both victims and victimizers. So far, he said, the police department doesn’t have any open cases involving Canaan residents.
This week’s sting was the first of its kind in Canaan.
“We didn’t reinvent the wheel,” Frank said, noting law enforcement agencies around the country have performed similar stings. “We just started our own investigation here and this was the net result.”
Trading sex for money has increased over the past decade, Frank said, in part because of the increased use of cellphones and the prevalence of heroin and other drugs in the community. It is not uncommon for addicts to sell themselves to get money to buy drugs, Frank said.
Frank said it might take weeks for his department to write affidavits and file the cases in court. Until that happens, no details about the sting operation will be released, he said.
Laramie, who declined to comment on the charge outside his Grantham home on Wednesday night, will be arraigned on one misdemeanor count of prostitution on July 11 in Lebanon District Court.
The charge of prostitution falls under the broad category of public indecency in New Hampshire law, which encompasses various acts, and includes an individual who solicits an illegal act, Frank said.
Hanover School District Superintendent Frank Bass said he was “shocked and dismayed” to hear about the newest allegation against Laramie, who in February resigned as principal for personal reasons.
“We feel for him and his family,” Bass said. “It is a sad day for our school; it is a sad day for our community.”
Bass said he found out about Laramie’s prostitution charge through Hanover Police Chief Charlie Dennis, who reached out to Canaan police after accusations started circulating in the community.
Bass said he initially was not inclined to inform faculty and parents about Laramie’s charge.
“It was not our story to report,” Bass said. “We purposefully didn’t want to say anything.”
But because he and School Board members learned the community had knowledge, he said, he felt he had a duty to let faculty and parents know what was going on.
“We didn’t want them to be shell shocked to get the story in the morning,” he added.
Counselors were made available at the school, and they were utilized Thursday, Bass said.
Both Bass and Frank said they were not in a position to comment on whether Laramie’s postitution charge was in anyway linked to his alleged misuse of funds at the Ray School.
In March, school officials announced they were investigating more than $30,000 in unapproved expenses charged to Laramie’s school-issued credit card.
Dennis, the Hanover police chief, said his department doesn’t have any open cases involving Laramie, a Charlestown native.
Attempts to reach Laramie’s attorney, James Bianco, were unsuccessful.
Before his 2011 hiring at the Ray School, Laramie worked as an assistant principal at Kearsarge Regional High School and at both Lebanon and Stevens high schools.
School Board Chairwoman Mimi Lichtenstein said transparency was another factor school officials considered while deciding whether to issue a letter to the Ray School community.
Administrators ultimately opted to send the letter, which was emailed out shortly before the Canaan Police Department issued its news release announcing the charge against Laramie.
In addition to the investigation into Laramie’s alleged misuse of school district funds, the School Board also has had to deal with criticism from some parents for how it went about choosing his replacement.
At a School Board meeting last week, some parents accused Lichtenstein of having a conflict of interest in selecting John Hansen as the top choice to replace Laramie — an accusation she denied.
On Tuesday, Hansen withdrew his candidacy and instead accepted the principal position at the Enfield Village School.
“The last several months have been challenging for our school community,” Lichtenstein said. “The board has had, and will continue to have, the community’s best interest at heart, and is appreciative of the trust given it by the community.”
Ray School counselors Pam Graham and Karen Strickland are inviting community members to attend an informal meeting on the Laramie news from 8-9 a.m. today in the school’s main office.
Counselors also will be available to speak individually in person or by phone.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.