HOULTON, Maine — A hearing is scheduled later this month to review the case against a longtime educator in southern Aroostook County who was arrested in January 2018 in connection with multiple counts of unlawful sexual contact, allegedly with juvenile males.
Local police arrested James J. Rochford, 76, on Jan. 25, 2018, and charged him with three counts of unlawful sexual contact, one count of furnishing a place for minors to consume alcohol, and one count of furnishing liquor to a minor, according to Houlton police Chief Tim DeLuca.
A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 28 in Aroostook County Superior Court in Caribou to determine whether the case will be scheduled for further hearings or trial, according to a court clerk.
Police have released few details about the case. Deluca said at the time, however, that the department received information via social media about a potential victim who Rochford allegedly sexually molested.
“We started looking into this immediately and reached out to the victim,” the chief said.
As officers conducted their investigation, additional victims emerged, he said. While DeLuca declined to say how many victims, police described them as young males.
The Houlton police, in conjunction with the Aroostook County district attorney’s office, obtained an arrest warrant for Rochford, and took him into custody without incident. Rochford was an educational technician at the Region Two School of Applied Technology at the time and taught in RSU 29 and at Southern Aroostook Community School for a number of years.
Rochford is out of jail on $2,000 unsecured bail.
DeLuca said police and the school have taken precautions to ensure Rochford has no contact with any of the victims.
