June 18, 1999
Portland, Maine

A few days after Catherine Duffy Petit was sentenced to nearly 16 years in a federal facility, government informants Armand Pelletier and Greg O’Halloran were both sentenced to three years probation for their role in raising money to fight Petit’s 14-year civil suit against Key Bank.

Both pleaded guilty to felony counts in exchange for testifying for the government, though neither did in the six-week long trial. Pelletier was sentenced to 12 months home detention as part of his term.

Government informant Donald Shields was supposed to be sentenced Thursday, but his sentencing was postponed after U.S. District Court Chief Judge D. Brock Hornby determined that he had not amended and filed his federal tax returns, as he was required to do as part of his plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Judge Hornby reminded Shields of the penalty of perjury with regard to ammending his tax returns. Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Clark and Shields’ attorney both recommended a 10 month sentence.

Clark also told Judge Hornby during the sentencing hearing that Shields came forth willingly to the U.S. Attorney’s to offer information after he discovered that the Petit scheme to raise money for her lawsuit was fraudulent.

However, in an interview with the Wiscasset Newspaper that was published Thursday, Shields claimed the government forced him into pleading guilty and he maintained his innocence.

He also told the paper’s reporter that he would continue his commercial loan business, but that his once large tax practice was "ruined" by the negative publicity of his involvement with the Petit case.

Shields is also facing felony forgery charges in Lincoln County and is scheduled to appear June 29 to either change his innocent plea or request a jury trial. According to the Wiscasset Newspaper, a Lincoln County Assistant District Attorney said she expected Shields to change his plea to nolo or guilty, based on a conversation she had with his lawyer.

Shields is not unfamiliar with courts in Maine. He has approximately $1.3 million in judgements levied against him in jurisdictions around the state.

He currently leases and is living in a $1100 a month apartment in Portland, despite testifying recently at a financial disclosure hearing that he had no bank accounts and essentially nothing for assets.

In a phone conversation two months ago, Shields placed most of the blame for the alleged $8 million fraud of 125 victims on Thomas Blackburn, the government’s star witness. Blackburn, he said, stole a lot more than the nearly $200,000 the government claims he did.

Blackburn, James Erskine and Robert Paradis will be sentenced later this year. They are expected to testify in the trial of Steven Hall, who was severed from the Petit trial after his attorney became ill and was hospitalized.