A longtime Maine Episcopal priest has been placed on adminstrative leave following his arrest on drug trafficking charges.
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office says the Rev. Stephen Foote, of Bremen, has been charged with Class C trafficking in prison contraband, specifically Suboxone, at the Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.
Lincoln County Sheriff's Lt. Michael Murphy says Suboxone is a drug used to treat opiate addiction. Murphy says Foote claims that he was helping a parishioner who was an inmate at the jail and addicted to opiates.
"He knew what he was doing was wrong," Murphy says. "But he believed he was helping someone by doing this."
Murphy says that two inmates at the jail were also arrested and charged with attempted trafficking: Joshua Theriault Patten, 25, of Bremen, to whom Foote was allegedly bringing the Suboxone, and Adam Shawley, 27, of Newport, who allegedly received some of the drug.
The Episcopal Diocese of Maine says Foote was serving as transition priest-in-charge at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Augusta. In 2003 Foote retired as Dean of St. Luke's Cathedral in Portland.
An attorney representing Foote declined comment this afternoon.
This story was reported and written by Ed Morin.