Solomon pleads guilty, owes $4M in restitution

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Dawn Solomon

OXFORD COUNTY - Dawn Solomon, 42, of Harrison, a real estate owner and social service provider, pled guilty Friday to felony theft and was ordered to pay $4 million in restitution.

According to Assistant Attorney General Michael Miller, Solomon admitted to overbilling, submitting false reports through L.I.N.C., the Living Independence  Network Corporation to the state for reimbursement. Miller said the evidence seiezed at the L.I.N.C. office and those of other Solomon-controlled businesses nearby on Norway's Main Street, in July.

Miller said in 2006, Solomon was paid an average of $87,000 per month. In 2007, she was overpaid $107,000 in the average month and $134,000 too much monthly in 2008. The total is in the $4 million range.

Some of the artifices used included having relatives on the company payroll, including a$105,000 annual salary to a person who had no duties at all in any of the businesses. In other instances, Miller said, people whose hours were  billed for care of children were actually performing maintenance and other unrelated tasks at various Solomon properties.

Solomon was booked at the Oxford County Jail after her plea, then released on $10,000 unsecured bail. She is scheduled to appear for sentencing on February 18. Miller said at the February  hearing she and Solomon's attorney, Jay P. McCloskey, will present arguments on the length of time Solomon will be incarcerated. A basic sentence of eight years has been agreed to. Prosecution and defence have agreed to ask the judge to suspend a portion of the time, but exactly how much to suspend is still undecided. She could wind up actually spending between 40 and 60 months, that is, between three and five years, behind bars. However much time of incarceration the judges decides on, when it ends, Solomon will then serve three years on probation, during which any violations could send her back to prison for the full term.

Miller said that at this time, charges are being considered against other individuals who might have aided Solomon in committing the thefts. The assistant attorney general said she hoped some of them would come forward voluntarily now, before the charges are brought sometime in the next few months.

Miller also refused to say how many other people might be charged. Specifically asked if Harvey Solomon, the defendant's husband, was one of those to be charged, Miller immediately answered firmly, "I have to decline any comment on that right now."

Federal charges could be brought in addition to those filed by the state, however, usually the state addresses the case first.