Note Left by DiPaola Turned Over to Medical Examiner

The note left behind by Middlesex Sheriff James DiPaola is on its way to the Maine Medical Examiner's office in Augusta, according to Wells police.

 "By Maine state law, suicide notes are released to the medical examiner," said Wells Police Sergeant Kent Berdeen. An officer carrying the note left the Wells station a little after 10 a.m. to make the 75-mile drive to Augusta.

In a statement made Saturday night, Wells police said DiPaola left behind a multi-paged note. No one in the department has read the note, according to Berdeen, which he described as scribbled on note paper.

DiPaola was found dead in a Wells resort motel Saturday night. According to police, after he missed his checkout time, cleaning staff and a manager entered the room and found him on the bed, dead of a gunshot wound to the head.

The sheriff had been in the public eye after numerous media reports about alleged ethical and legal problems, including an attempt to draw a pension while on active duty and campaign finance irregularities.

AG's Office Review Still Open

A complaint made against DiPaola was referred to the attorney general's office from the Middlesex County Attorney last week. That information remains under review, according to Harry Pierre, deputy press secretary for the attorney general.

"We began our review last week and that review remains ongoing," Pierre said in an email Monday.

Allegations of improper campaign donations were included in the complaint, which the Middlesex District Attorney's office received two weeks ago from an unidentified source.

To read more about this story, click