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Former Portsmouth attorney and one-time congressional hopeful Justin Nadeau is now indicted on 15 felony counts related to his alleged scheme to steal close to $300,000 from a mentally impaired client. 

He’s just the latest New Hampshire Democrat to find himself in legal peril.

A grand jury convened in Rockingham County handed up 11 indictments for falsifying physical evidence, two indictments for financial exploitation of an impaired adult, and one count each for theft by deception and forgery. 

The charges stem from information that came out during Nadeau’s ethics case before the state Professional Conduct Committee. Nadeau was ultimately disbarred after he was allegedly caught falsifying evidence during the PCC investigation.

“It’s difficult for me to imagine something worse for a lawyer to do,” one PCC member said, according to the court records.

Nadeau went before the PCC after he allegedly got a client who was impaired by a traumatic brain injury, Exeter woman Shawn Fahey, to give him close to $300,000 in loans in 2018. Nadeau allegedly secured the loans with a condo he did not own, and the anticipated proceeds from a pending defamation lawsuit he had against the Portsmouth Police Department.

Before his fall from grace, Nadeau had political ambitions and ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2004 against then-Congressman Jeb Bradley (R). 

Nadeau isn’t the only Seacoast Democrat in the dock. Former Stafford County Sheriff Mark Brave is facing trial for theft of county funds to pay for his affairs. The Democrat hoping to replace him, former North Hampton police chief Kathryn Mone, is facing questions about her handling of a wrongful arrest case during her last job, a case that cost North Hampton $150,000.

While Nadeau is at the beginning of his criminal prosecution, the legal struggles of former state Senate Democratic leader Jeff Woodburn of Coos County are coming to an end. Woodburn is expected to be sent to jail at his sentence imposition hearing on Wednesday in Grafton County. Woodburn was convicted of criminal mischief after he was charged with assaulting his former girlfriend in a domestic abuse case.

And then there are former state Reps. Andrew Bouldin and Stacie Laughton. A former Manchester representative, Bouldin changed his name to Andrew Kennedy and was seeking another term in the House in Lee, N.H. But he dropped out after NHJournal reported on an investigation into allegations of “grooming” — plying a teen with alcohol and making sexually suggestive comments, according to a police report.

Laughton is behind bars awaiting trial on a federal charge of sexual exploitation of children, and aiding and abetting. Laugton is a biological male who identifies as a female and allegedly committed the crimes with his girlfriend, who worked at a Massachusetts day care.

Nadeau is due in Rockingham County Superior Court on Oct. 23 for his arraignment.

Strafford County’s proposed $170 million nursing home project continues to be dogged by controversy and questions — and now, a canceled check from the state.

A $15 million funding agreement was canceled due to the county’s fiscal fumbling. Members of the Strafford County delegation reacted with anger when they learned county commissioners were pushing a “Taj Mahal” version of the nursing home, rather than a proposal from a different architect at a cost of less than $50 million.

Now, $15 million in state funding has been pulled. But County Administrator Ray Bowers downplayed the cancellation, telling NHJournal the money was really a grant.

“To start, there was no $15 million loan. We were promised a $15.6 million grant if we completed a portion of the nursing home project by 12/2025. The project was never approved in time so we were never eligible for the money,” Bowers said via email.

A loan cancellation notice issued in March shows officials with the New Hampshire Governor’s Office of Emergency Relief and Recovery (GOFERR) considered the money a forgivable loan, though Bowers sent NH Journal a copy of the original agreement signed last year in which the funding is called a grant.

The money could be considered Schrodinger’s Check, as it was potentially both a loan and a grant at the same time. 

Either way, the cancellation is the latest sign of trouble for the high-priced project pushed by county commissioners.

Last year, the County Nursing Home Infrastructure Program run by GOFERR approved the $15 million. GOFERR was created during the COVID-19 pandemic in part to administer ,state and federal funds earmarked to help municipalities and businesses deal with the consequences of the pandemic.

Strafford County’s proposed 215-bed nursing home design won approval for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding geared to help county nursing facilities mitigate and prevent the spread of COVID-19, help ensure facilities are safe for residents and their families, and support facility improvements. The ARPA funding was given as a forgivable loan contingent on the county meeting certain benchmarks. Once all the requirements were met, the county would be under no obligation to repay the $15 million. If the county failed to meet the requirement, the forgivable loan would become a regular loan to be repaid, Bowers said.

“It is only a loan if you begin to take the money and then don’t complete the terms of the agreement. Once you complete the agreement it is a grant,” Bowers said.

But whether it’s a grant or a loan, the county isn’t getting the $15 million — and it is not getting a new nursing home anytime soon. Without a viable plan to build the new nursing home, Strafford County can’t even try to meet any of the loan/grant requirements.

In December, the county delegation blocked the funding for the $170 million nursing home citing cost concerns. That’s put a stop to the project that’s been in the works for years, but not to the recriminations.

State Rep. Cliff Newton (R-Rochester) wants a public accounting of what went wrong with the project, blaming county officials for pushing a plan they knew could not get approved.

“The county commissioners and county administration were warned repeatedly that $170-200 million for a new nursing home was excessive and would not get bonding. We asked for them to look at all options and to come up with something less costly and less extravagant. Instead, the county wasted two years pursuing two, similar in costs ‘Taj Mahal’ nursing home projects,” Newton said.

Newton has long been critical of the costs associated with the plan, and says there were lower cost proposals. But County Commissioner George Maglaras said those lower priced plans were not realistic and would not meet the county’s needs.

On the plus side for taxpayers, Bowers said there is no cost from the cancellation. Since no money changed hands between GOFERR and the county, there is no financial liability. The $15 million was always part of the total budget for the project, and Bowers said it could only be accessed with approval from the delegation.

“The county has no authority to spend any money not approved by the delegation. The delegation did not approve the funding of the nursing home; therefore, we had no authority to accept any of the 15 million,” Bowers said.

It’s still possible the county will start again on a new nursing home proposal, but Bowers said that will be up to the delegation. There’s discussion of holding a delegation meeting just on the nursing home issue, but no date has been set, he said. 

New Hampshire’s Supreme Court ruled this week that Granite State courts have seen enough of Portsmouth attorney Justin Nadeau, disbarring him after he was caught doctoring evidence in his ethics case before the Professional Conduct Committee.

“It’s difficult for me to imagine something worse for a lawyer to do,” one PCC member said, according to the court records.

Nadeau, once a Democratic candidate in the First Congressional District, was brought before the PCC after he allegedly got a client who was impaired by a traumatic brain injury, Exeter woman Shawn Fahey, to give him $300,000 in loans in 2018. Nadeau allegedly secured the loans with a condo he did not own, tax liens, and the anticipated proceeds from a pending defamation lawsuit he had against the Portsmouth Police Department.

Nadeau allegedly told Fahey until the defamation lawsuit was resolved he was “strapped for cash.”

The lawsuit against Portsmouth’s police stems from an arrest of Portsmouth man Christian Jennings. Jennings was allegedly found with quantities of marijuana, Ecstasy, amphetamines, a loaded gun, and $42,000 in cash. According to police, Nadeau was handling an $85,000 marina investment for Jennings before the arrest, though the marina deal never closed. Nadeau brought the lawsuit when police opened an investigation into whether or not he was laundering drug money. The defamation case was settled in 2019.

Nadeau also allegedly hid the $165,000 he collected after he sent Fahey to a Massachusetts attorney to handle her injury case. Nadeau reportedly collected referral fees from the Massachusetts attorney as well as other money related to Fahey’s case.

According to the Supreme Court’s disbarment order released Tuesday, Nadeau slow-walked producing documents related to the case to the PCC. The Democrat even destroyed his computer before the hearing. Nadeau claims he made all the appropriate conflict of interest disclosures and eventually produced printed copies of the letter he claimed he sent her.

However, James Berriman, the computer expert hired by the PCC, looked through Nadeau’s office server and found the dates on the documents Nadeau gave to the committee were fake, and the documents were created well after he took the money from Fahey.

“As a member of the PCC observed at oral argument before the PCC, ‘the Berriman Report and the spoliation of evidence, in my mind . . . is one of the most significant violations I have seen in decades of practice before the ADO before joining this committee,’” the court ruling states.

Nadeau argued that disbarment is too harsh a penalty, but the Court found that his “deliberate, multi-year effort to deceive the disciplinary authority” and the ethics complaints involved in Fahey’s case make un-lawyering him appropriate.

Nadeau’s father, J.P. Nadeau, agreed to resign from the New Hampshire Bar Association in 2009 after he was investigated for a conflict of interest for representing a construction company involved in a dispute with Justin Nadeau.

Nadeau once had hopes of higher office, running an ultimately unsuccessful campaign against then-Congressman Jeb Bradley (R). Nadeau’s campaign was spearheaded by Steve Marchand, Portsmouth’s former mayor who ,himself went on to unsuccessful runs for higher office. In recent years, Marchand has been warned by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office for skirting campaign laws.

Million Air’s controversial plan to set up shop at Pease International Tradeport could now hinge on tenants’ rights.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court heard arguments this week from lawyers for Port City Air and Million Air over whether or not a tenant has the right to appeal a state permit.

“What Port City Air is asking you to do today is something this court has never done,” said Nathan Fennessy, Million Air’s attorney.

But Jake Marvelley, a lawyer for Port City, said it’s basic common sense that a tenant has legal standing when it comes to the right to protect their property.

“We should have the legal right to standing,” Marvelley said.

Million Air, based in Texas, wants to build a new fixed-based operator (FBO) facility, or FBO, at Pease to service private aircraft, raising objections from residents and nearby communities concerned about the potential negative environmental impacts. 

FBOs provide hangar space, maintenance and repair services, fuel, and other necessities for private planes and pilots. 

The proposed site is close to sensitive wetlands that feed the water supply for Pease and the town of Newington and is already the site of a major PFAS contamination that has impacted drinking water in the Seacoast region. 

Danna Truslow, a hydrogeologist Port City hired to look at the site, found levels of PFAS in the site Million Air wants to use are already ten times higher than the levels considered safe. Million Air will be building near the wetlands close to the aquifer that supplies water for several communities.

Port City filed an appeal when Million Air was granted a permit to work in the wetlands by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Wetlands Bureau. However, the Port City appeal was rejected by the Wetlands Council without a hearing because they are tenants and not property owners.

“As Port City does not qualify as a landowner, it cannot qualify as an abutting landowner and therefore cannot be a ‘person aggrieved’ with standing,” wrote Zachary Towle, the DES hearing officer who issued the denial.

The law Towle cites in the denial, RSA § 482-A:10, does not define the terms for landowner, and Marvelley told the Supreme Court justices during this week’s hearing it ought to be interpreted in order to allow tenants to pursue their rights, not just landowners.

Port City has a 30-year agreement for its FBO at Pease and is one of many tenants in the Tradeport.

Fennessey said Port City has legal rights under the law if there is contamination after Million Air moves in, but not before. The right to stop the project and to appeal state permits belongs to landowners under the law, he said.

“What Port City is asking upends the administrative scheme enacted by the legislature. It would be appropriate, based on the plain and ordinary meaning of the language and your precedents, to uphold the Wetlands Council denial,” Hennessy.

Million Air still needs formal permission from Pease, the actual property owner. The Pease Development Authority is still considering the project and has yet to schedule a vote on its final approval.

The Federal Aviation Administration notified the PDA last year it is reviewing Million Air’s plan and the potential impacts it will have on the airport’s layout. As part of the FAA process, Pease is required to have a new environmental impact study done to FAA standards.

This fall, PDA Chair Steve Duprey started floating the idea that Pease itself could get into the game and start its own FBO business. 

“Obviously, it’s one of those things that you have to consider very carefully, but it just seems to make common sense,” Duprey told New Hampshire Business Review. “It would give us a greater degree of assurance that we had a range of options for people who use FBOs.”

Fall is here, and students are back in their classrooms, but Somersworth’s Assistant School Superintendent Dana Hilliard is still not in the building.

Hilliard, who is also the city’s long-time Democratic mayor,  was scheduled to return to his school job Monday after months of leave over alleged unethical conduct. That was until last week, when 94 percent of the local teachers union, the Somersworth Association of Educators, voted against him coming back.

There are currently no calls for Hilliard to leave his elected position as mayor despite allegations of conflicts of interest. In Somersworth, the mayor and city council have the final vote on approving the school budget, meaning Hilliard essentially votes to pay tax dollars to himself.

“If he were a Republican, people would be after his hide,” said Ken Hilton, a Republican who made an unsuccessful bid to unseat Hilliard.

The union’s no-confidence vote does not have any force of law on Hilliard’s job. But the resolution makes clear the tension in the community over Hilliard.

“I do not have confidence in Dana Hilliard’s ability to be an effective leader in the Somersworth School District,” the union’s resolution reads. “I do not want Dana Hilliard to return to work in the Somersworth School District because his history of behavior shows that he makes it more difficult for educators to achieve the District’s mission, which is ‘to inspire all students to excel, to develop a thirst for knowledge, and to teach the essential skills necessary to be caring, contributing, and responsible individuals in an ever-changing world.’”

Hilliard went on paid leave this spring after district employees filed a complaint over his treatment of staff. Superintendent Lori Lane, also named in the staff complaints, also went on leave. Lane resigned this summer. 

Interim Superintendent Lou Goscinski declined to discuss details of Hilliard’s job status when contacted by NHJournal on Tuesday.

“He remains out on leave, but I cannot discuss the type of leave,” Goscinski said.

Goscinski confirmed Hilliard is on paid leave, meaning he is still collecting his taxpayer-funded school salary, which clocks in at more than $100,000 a year.

Hilliard declined to respond to requests for comment.

Hilton said Hilliard and his family are well-known and liked in the community, and the situation surrounding the mayor is sad. Hilton claimed that Partisan politics of power override what’s best for the city residents.

“Democrats never resign in disgrace; they just keep going,” Hilton said. “If you’ve no standards, who’s to say that’s wrong?”

An independent report found Hilliard and Lane yelled at and belittled staff members in private meetings after those staffers voiced opposition to proposed budget cuts at public school board meetings. One teacher told the investigator she was afraid of Hilliard. Other staff members said Hilliard was known to yell and throw things at people when he was angry.

Teachers also told the investigator Hilliard was mired in an obvious conflict of interest in his job and his position as the mayor. According to the report, Hilliard kept his elected city position in mind when he made budget decisions for the school. Hilliard would cut staff and programs at the school rather than make those cuts in the city or raise taxes, the report states.

Hilliard, director of operations for the district, reports to the school superintendent, not the school board. That means the board is unable to fire him. Lane could have fired Hilliard, and now Goscinski can fire him.

Hilton said there is still time for Hilliard to do the right for the people of Somersworth. It might be time for someone else to step into the city leadership role.

“I have been praying Dana would repent and choose to do what is right and good,” Hilton said. “You want to see good leaders in there.”

Newington residents are asking for help protecting their town’s drinking water from potential contamination some fear could be caused by the Million Air construction project at Pease.

“Everyone is extremely concerned,” said resident Meghann Wayss. “They have a little bit of trauma because they’ve seen this steamroll process.”

Wayss is one of the hundreds of Seacoast residents imploring the Pease Development Authority to listen to their concerns about Million Air and the Texas-based company’s plan to build a new private plane facility at Pease. So far, she told NHJournal, it seems like they are being ignored.

“Due process is not taking place,” Wayss said.

Newington’s Selectboard recently published an open letter detailing the perceived problems with Million Air’s proposed facility. The letter also asks residents to get involved in protecting the town.

Selectboard Chair Bob Blonigen said Newington is running out of options as the PDA gets closer to approving Million Air’s new fixed-base operator facility, which includes plans for a 90,000-gallon jet fuel farm many say is too close to wetlands that feed the region’s drinking water systems.

Residents don’t want the PDA to rubber stamp the project with what they say are unanswered questions remaining regarding the safety of town drinking water.

“There’s a groundswell of concern in Newington that the PDA is not responding to our questions; they are not really giving the project a proper look,” Blonigen said.

More than 1,200 residents have signed an online petition asking the PDA to slow down.

Million Air wants to build its fixed-base operator facility on land that will require dredging and filling of wetlands near the Haven Well, according to the Newington board’s letter. The Haven Well feeds into the drinking water for the town of Newington. Residents already living with PFAS contamination from Pease fear Million Air’s project poses a risk of worsening the problem. They cite a review of the project conducted by Danna Truslow, a hydrogeologist hired to look at the site by Port City Air, an aviation company already at Pease.

Truslow found levels of PFAS within Million Air’s proposed site already 10 times the PFAS levels considered safe. None of this seems to make an impression on the PDA, Wayss said.

Resident Jennifer Wiener said while the PDA meetings about Million Air are taking place in public, they are held at times most members of the public cannot attend. The meetings are in the middle of the workday on weekdays. She said that even if a resident can get to a meeting, they are shut out from commenting or asking questions.

“We feel there’s no transparency to this project,” Wiener said. 

Wayss recalled arriving late to a recent meeting set for 2 p.m., only to find it was already over. Wayss entered the room at 2:09 p.m. to find the board adjourning the meeting.

“It’s very apparent there is a desired result, and the process is being used to get that desired result,” Wayss said.

State Rep. David Meuse (D-Portsmouth) said he and other Seacoast lawmakers have been hearing volumes from residents who are worried about the project. He said the concerns being raised by Newington selectmen and residents ought to be addressed openly.

“All of the concerns the selectmen have raised are more than legitimate,” Meuse said. “These are questions that need to be answered.

Meuse met this week with state Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka (D-Portsmouth) and state Rep. Robin Vogt (D-Portsmouth) to discuss the situation. He said lawmakers want to get all the facts and fully understand the issues before taking the next step. The biggest concern is making sure Seacoast residents don’t again have their drinking water contaminated, he explained.

“We need to do the homework and have the right kind of conversations with people and advocate for people in the community,” Meuse said. “We want to make sure people who have been victimized before won’t get victimized again.”

Residents like Wayss and Weiner want the PDA to conduct a public, third-party peer review of the design of the project, review alternative sites at Pease where Million Air’s facility could be safely located, bring in a professional wetlands engineer to study the current’s site buffer zone; and offer a complete public explanation of what the public benefit is being realized through the Million Air project. 

“We still do not understand how this is a public good when it’s ruining Newington’s drinking water,” Weiner said.

Pease International Tradeport sits on land taken from the town of Newington decades ago when the U.S. government created the Pease Air Force Base, she noted. Since that land went to the Tradeport when the base closed, she said the PDA at least owes residents an explanation.

“We gave away 51 percent of our town when the airbase came in,” Weiner said. “I would expect the PDA to be better partners.”

Supporters of the Million Air project note the Truslow review was funded by Port City Air, a competitor who has no interest in seeing the project move forward.

Peter Bragdon, spokesman for Million Air, said Newington officials and residents have no reason to worry. The wetlands delineation surrounding the proposed facility has been through an independent, third-party review ordered by the PDA already. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services has also looked at it. He said the company has agreed to abide by any findings these reviews uncovered.

“Million Air believes the PDA and NH DES are exercising proper independent oversight in this process by ordering an independent third-party review and by having a team of experts, including a certified wetland scientist, walk the property,” Bragdon said. “We look forward to the formal presentation of our proposal to the PDA Board of Directors in the coming months, where the facts can be discussed openly.”

Sheriff Mark Brave won’t answer questions about his condition during his wife’s December arrest for driving under the influence. But documents obtained by NHJournal suggest the Strafford County Democrat was on the scene and intoxicated.

“We knew he didn’t drive the car home that night, but nobody told us why,” said Strafford County Commissioner Ray Bowers. 

According to police reports, Jaime Brave was stopped while driving on Route 16 in Portsmouth on Dec. 9 after she was seen swerving in her 2017 Mercedes GLE. Jaime Brave was arrested after failing a series of field sobriety tests. She later blew a .15 percent blood alcohol content, nearly double the legal limit of .08 percent.

According to the reports, her sole passenger that night was prohibited from driving the Mercedes home due to a blood alcohol content of .157 percent. Based on the report and available information, it appears that passenger was Sheriff Brave.

New Hampshire State Police released the reports on Monday related to Jaime Brave’s arrest for DUI in response to the 91A request from NHJournal. The reports redact the name of Jaime Brave’s sole passenger during the night of the arrest, but the context of the reports, and Bowers’s understanding of the events, indicate Mark Brave was the passenger too intoxicated to drive home.

Mark Brave did not respond to a request for comment on Monday, and he had declined multiple calls for comment since the arrest was first reported. There is no record of Mark Brave having been charged with any crime or violation as a result of the incident.

Bowers told NHJournal he and the three elected Strafford County Commissioners were informed about the DUI arrest shortly after it happened, and they were told that Brave was the passenger in the car with Jamie Brave. Bowers has not seen the police reports from the arrest. He is expecting copies from the County Attorney’s Office at some point.

“Certainly, the arrest was brought to our attention, and that Sheriff Brave was in the vehicle, we were aware of that,” Bower said.

Bowers understood the couple was attending a private Christmas party and there was no use of county property, such as a county vehicle, in the incident.

Strafford County Commission Chair George Maglaras referred all questions to Bower.

According to the reports, the law enforcement officers who stopped Jamie Brave recognized her passenger and knew where he worked, though that information is also redacted from the copies obtained by NHJournal. The reports state another trooper responded as an additional witness because of the identity of the passenger.

The couple told police they were coming from a Christmas party held at a private house when they were stopped. Jaime Brave was taken into custody and processed at the Newington Police Department while a trooper drove her passenger, presumably Mark Brave, to a private home in Newington where he could be released to a sober friend.

Bower said the reports, once received by the commissioners, will be reviewed for possible violations. However, based on the description of events from NHJournal, Bower said there may not be a county policy violation. Mark Brave was not drinking at a county function and he did not use any county resources.

“If it had been at county function there would have been grave concerns,” Bower said.

Mark Brave, New Hampshire’s first-ever elected Black sheriff, is a rising star in Democratic politics. It remains to be seen if his apparent intoxication after his wife’s arrest will cool the support he has enjoyed.

Nancy Vawter, co-chair of the Dover Democrats, said the issue is a personal matter for the Braves.

“I know Mark, I feel bad about what happened. We’ve all had a little too much to drink, maybe he didn’t realize his wife had too much (as well,)” Vawter said.

After initially answering questions from an NHJournal reporter, Vawter demanded to have the conversation taken off the record. The reporter had started the conversation by identifying himself, the publication, and the topic of the call. Vawter was informed that she could not retroactively make the call off the record.

The Braves are already dealing with the fallout from the arrest. In the days after the arrest was first reported, Jamie Brave resigned her position as chief nursing officer at Frisbie Memorial Hospital.