How Much Does A State Trooper Make

New HampshirState Police fired the trooper at the center of a controversial 2017 traffic terminate after determining he illegally searched the driver'southward phone and made multiple simulated statements during an internal investigation, according to records obtained by the Granite State News Collaborative.

In a alphabetic character to Trooper Haden Wilber dated Aug. ix, 2021, State Police Col. Nathan A. Noyes said he no longer trusted the trooper's integrity.

"This investigation has revealed disturbing facts regarding your investigatory habits and overall integrity equally a police force enforcement officer," Noyes said. "Your personal conduct every bit outlined herein reflects negatively upon your character, the police enforcement profession and is an embarrassment to y'all, your colleagues and the Division of State Police."

On February 10, 2017, Trooper Haden Wilber pulled over a car driven by Robyn White of Avon, Maine, on Interstate 95 in Portsmouth for ostensibly having too much snow on it. After reporting that he had found heroin residual in the auto, he arrested White.

Wilber stated he suspected she was transporting additional drugs on her person, perhaps inside her body, and ultimately charged her. White was held for 13 days, during which she underwent ii X-ray scans and an invasive body-crenel search, which found no drugs. The charges were ultimately dropped.

White filed a lawsuit in 2019 accusing Wilber of illegally searching her pocketbook and "fabricating evidence," which the state recently settled for more than $200,000 without admitting wrongdoing.

Wilber, a 13-yr veteran of the state police force forcefulness, was fired in August and added to the state's Exculpatory Evidence Schedule, a listing of officers with potential credibility bug, around the same time.

The Granite State News Collaborative obtained Wilber's letter of dismissal through a public-records request to the Personnel Appeals Board, where Wilber is challenging his termination.

The letter, written by Noyes, details the internal investigation that began in 2020 into Wilber's actions. Information technology was signed and approved by Robert L. Quinn, the commissioner of the Department of Safety.

"This investigation has exposed your lack of integrity, equally well as your unwillingness to apply the law within the correct legal parameters to which you are immune," Noyes wrote.

In a response dated Aug. 9, Wilber's lawyer, Marc Beaudoin, wrote that Wilber "is determined that he acted inside Constitutional guidelines" in searching White's phone.

"Trooper Wilber is highly-seasoned his termination and his inclusion on the Attorney General's Exculpatory Evidence Schedule," Beaudoin wrote in a argument to the Collaborative Friday. "He is adamant that he did not make any intentional misstatements of facts, and that he fully cooperated with the internal investigation.

Beaudoin said State Police misinterpreted faults in Wilber's memory from a years old case as lies.

"He is looking forward to his hearing in front of the New Hampshire Personnel Appeals Lath, and then that he tin exist vindicated," Beaudoin said.

Land Police officials take declined to comment on the case due to a awaiting public-records lawsuit from the ACLU of New Hampshire. The ACLU filed a lawsuit this month against New Hampshire State Constabulary, alleging they withheld misconduct records most Wilber.

Previous story:ACLU sues for records of abort, jailing, cavity search of woman afterward traffic stop

The termination letter details what State Police officials say was an illegal, warrantless search of White's phone, in violation of the federal and state constitutions.

Subsequently finding what appeared to be heroin residue in White's car, Wilber texted a sheriff'due south deputy in Maine, appearing to reference a bulletin he had found on White's phone, Noyes wrote. Wilber's text read, in office, "Off the record, her phone said she picked up a 'proficient and a half' have y'all heard the term 'good' upward that mode?"

Wilber did not mention White's bulletin in his arrest report or a subsequent affidavit. According to the termination letter, he initially told investigators that all he had done was seize the phone, put it in aeroplane mode and identify it in a plastic bag. When confronted with his text to the deputy, he stated, "I was conducting follow-up on her telephone, I did look at it."

He further explained that he "wanted to brand sure that I wasn't going down the wrong path on my drug investigation," earlier admitting he shouldn't have washed it.

The following month, 10 days before he obtained a search warrant to admission White'southward phone, Wilber took information technology out of evidence storage and said he does not know where it ended upwardly.

The alphabetic character besides documents what State Police officials said were other deficiencies in Wilber's investigation.

Wilber searched White'southward vehicle afterwards, he said, obtaining her exact consent, which is required in the absence of a warrant. (White, in her lawsuit, denies consenting to the search).

Prosecutors afterwards adamant that Wilber lacked reasonable suspicion of criminal activeness, the legal standard for turning a routine traffic cease into a drug investigation, prompting them to drop the possession charge.

Afterwards arresting White on Feb. 10, Wilber told Rockingham County Jail staff that he thought she was carrying drugs in her body, and so she was transported to Strafford County for an X-ray scan. Wilber said a male person corrections officeholder told him the browse showed "abnormalities," but failed to tape that employee'due south name.

Wilber subsequently charged White with delivery of manufactures prohibited, claiming she had brought drugs into the jail, and her bail was raised from $250 to $5,000 at a bail hearing.

At a later on hearing, he agreed to drop the delivery accuse and have her bail lowered, but asked that she undergo another body scan as a status of her bail, which a judge granted.

Wilber stated White'due south defense attorney agreed to the atmospheric condition. Merely that was not truthful, Noyes wrote, maxim court records show the defense force vigorously argued confronting the extra scan.

Wilber said a female corrections officer told him that the 2d browse, on February. 23, also showed abnormalities, though he once more failed to tape her proper name or when they spoke, according to the letter. Booking notes from Rockingham Canton state that no abnormalities were found, which Wilber was unable to explain, according to the letter.

Beaudoin wrote in his Aug. 9 response that Wilber "doggedly denies" he fabricated browse results, every bit alleged by White, and that there is no evidence of that. Wilber relied on the correctional staff'due south verbal reports because he was unable to interpret the results himself, according to Beaudoin.

Wilber stated he had no conversations with prosecutors after they dropped the drug possession accuse a few months after White's abort, maxim he learned of information technology past mail service.

Still, prosecutor Aaron Dristiliaris said he "vividly remembers" having a conversation with Wilber, who was "very upset and argumentative," Noyes wrote.

The letter concludes that Wilber made multiple fake statements during the internal investigation.

"I believe you deliberately lied and intentionally misrepresented facts," Noyes wrote.

State Law officials referred White's complaints to the Attorney Full general's Part for a criminal review after her lawsuit was filed, according to the termination letter of the alphabet. When the Attorney General's Part airtight that review without charges, State Police launched an internal investigation in December 2020.

Gilles Bissonnette, the ACLU-NH's legal manager, said the arrangement will continue to seek additional records.

"These records from the Personnel Appeals Board but confirm the obvious public involvement in disclosure with respect to all information concerning Mr. Wilber's misconduct in the possession of the Land Constabulary," he said in a argument Friday. "There is no legal basis for secrecy. The Country Police should immediately produce whatever boosted information concerning this misconduct to the public."

These articles are beingness shared past partners in The Granite State News Collaborative as part of our race and equity project. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.