AUGUSTA — Manchester’s former fire chief, charged with impersonating a public servant, has reached a plea deal on a lesser charge and agreed to pay a fine to resolve the allegations.
Prosecutors agreed to drop the misdemeanor criminal charge of impersonating a public servant in exchange for Francis R. “Frank” Wozniak, 43, agreeing to pay a $154 fine on a civil summons of improper exercise of emergency vehicle lights.
In June 2024, Wozniak was issued a summons by Hallowell police alleging he pretended to be a constable and had blue flashing lights installed on the town-owned truck he used in his job as fire chief in Manchester. Police alleged he represented himself as a constable to have the lights installed on the truck, and also told other people he was a constable, a position that does not exist in Manchester. Police also said he used the blue lights — which are reserved for police use — when responding to a fire call.
Wozniak, who resigned as fire chief in August, has denied the allegations, saying he never identified himself as a constable and the use of the blue lights was a malfunction of the light bar he had installed on the truck.
At a hearing Thursday before Chief District Judge Brent Davis at the Capital Judicial Center, Wozniak’s attorney Darrick Banda accepted a civil traffic summons for Wozniak, who did not attend the court session.
Bri White, an assistant district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties, said the state had agreed to dismiss the impersonating charge in exchange for Wozniak agreeing to not contest the new civil summons of improper exercise of emergency vehicle lights.
Banda said Wozniak decided to pay the fine on the lesser charge rather than go through the time and expense of a trial.
“Overall I think it was a fair resolution to the case,” Banda said. “We maintain that Frank was not impersonating a public servant, he was not committing a crime. Weighing the balance and expense of litigating those issues, with the state willing to settle for essentially a civil violation at this level, $154 for an auxiliary light violation, it was one of those things where the cost-benefit analysis of continuing to fight doesn’t make sense anymore.”
The initial charge of impersonating a public servant was a Class E offense, the least severe category of crime in Maine, punishable by up to six months in jail.
The plea agreement does not include any provisions preventing Wozniak from seeking work as a firefighter or a fire chief, a position he held in Manchester since 2019.
The 2024 charges were not the first run-in with the law Wozniak had while employed as Manchester’s fire chief.
Wozniak was arrested in 2020 in Portland on a charge of operating under the influence after police said the vehicle he was driving was observed operating at night without its headlights on. Portland police said Wozniak had a handgun in his vehicle when stopped by officers, but his possessing the gun did not violate the law.
Wozniak did not lose his driver’s license or his job as Manchester’s fire chief due to the 2020 arrest. He was also not the subject of disciplinary action by the town.
In 2022, Wozniak pleaded guilty to operating under the influence for that incident, as part of a deferred disposition agreement with state prosecutors.
Under the terms of the agreement, which Wozniak met, the charge was dismissed after he complied with conditions placed upon him for a year, including that he perform 20 hours of community service.
A handful of Manchester residents, who expressed concerns about Wozniak when he was Manchester’s fire chief, attended Thursday’s court hearing.
John Black, a former firefighter, said he was surprised Wozniak didn’t attend the court hearing himself and that the case was resolved by a plea agreement.
