Investigation details Sheriff Mark Brave's alleged lies about affairs, hotels and trips

DOVER — Details in an investigation spanning a year offer damning allegations Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave used county funds to travel and carry on multiple extramarital affairs, traveling to multiple states, staying in hotels and eating in restaurants, then lying about it to a grand jury.

Attorney General investigator Allison Vachon's affidavit has been filed in support of the eight felony charges against Brave.

At one point during questioning, Brave denied being with a woman in Boston in May 2023, claiming he was at a New Hampshire Accreditation Commission dinner event. Then he was shown surveillance images from Long Wharf Marriott, entering the hotel with the woman at night and kissing her as she left in the morning. He then testified, "Her name is, her name is .... um .... Let me see, I forget which one this is. I've been dating a lot of people."

The investigation found the New Hampshire Accreditation Commission held no events in Boston at that time.

The affidavit states Brave maxed out his two county credit cards, each with a $5,000 limit, one belonging to a member of his staff, maxing that out after expensing $2,221.55 for another trip to Florida, causing it to be canceled by county officials.

More: Sheriff Mark Brave accepts paid leave after ultimatum from Strafford County leaders

Vachon's investigation spans May 2022 through May 2023. It alleges misuse of about $19,000 in county funds, used for airfare, hotels, meals and a cruise. In many cases, Brave allegedly listed the expenses for conferences through agencies that do not exist, including a fictitious New England Sheriffs' Association. He also cited a trip to meet in Washington with Congressman Chris Pappas, D-New Hampshire, a meeting that was allegedly never scheduled.

The investigation notes some of the trips to Boston coincided with nights the Boston Celtics were playing and that Brave owns Celtics season tickets, according to one of his deputies.

Brave turned himself last Thursday to New Hampshire State Police. He was charged with eight felonies: theft by deception for using about $19,000 in county funds by seeking reimbursement for personal expenses with false justifications, two counts of falsifying physical evidence and five counts of perjury for lying to a Stafford County grand jury, according to state Attorney General John Formella. Brave could face 31½ to 64 years in prison and fines of up to $32,000 if convicted on all counts, according to Formella.

Meet-ups with women in multiple cities alleged

Brave's expenses were first brought to the attention of the attorney general in April by Strafford County Commissioners after a trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in August 2022, where his expenses were listed as $1,615.04 and included first class airfare and an oceanfront hotel. The investigation began tracing his expenses back to May 2022.

Brave was accompanied on the Florida trip by Freezenia Veras, employed by the Strafford County sheriff's department. She was hired initially last year as an executive assistant to then Strafford County sheriff's office Lt. Paul Callaghan, who is also mayor of Rochester and an officer of the courts. Her salary was $27.60 per hour ($57,408).

Brave allegedly created a new position for Veras, chief of support services/public information officer, at a salary of $38.38 per hour ($79,830).

"I was not part of her hiring process," Callaghan said Monday. "She was hired to assist with prosecution matters."

Callaghan said he has been advised further questions on Veras should be directed to the attorney general's staff.

Veras initially told investigators she went on the trip and she stayed with family and friends, but refused to name them, according to the affidavit. She later admitted staying in a room with Brave but said he slept on the couch and she in the bed. Brave maintained she stayed with family. He offered various excuses for meetings during the trip which investigators said they were unable to confirm existed.

There are many other dates and expenses detailed in the affidavit. This includes on Oct. 6-10, 2022, Brave allegedly charged $1,482.440 for expenses related to a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He claimed it was for a Big Brothers/Big Sisters event, but there was no event confirmed. At that time, he had rooms for two adults and five children.

On Feb. 6, 2023, Brave allegedly spent two nights at the Element Arundel Mills Hotel in Hanover, Maryland, for what he claimed was a meeting with Pappas. He reported on his expenses that the meeting was cancelled but that Pappas gifted him a US flag that had flown over the White House as an apology. The congressman's staff indicated that no such meeting was scheduled and no flag was sent, according to investigators.

On Aug. 7, of this year, prosecutors spoke with a Maryland woman. She reported to Dover police she had met with Brave, and they began a relationship after he told her he was coming to Maryland for a Maryland Sheriff's Conference. That relationship allegedly continued at least through March of this year, when Brave expensed what he claimed was a National Sheriffs Association conference. The woman confirmed she and her young son met with Brave.

Another trip in March was taken by Brave and a male staff officer to Florida for a NOBLE Black Law Enforcement Executive Leadership conference, which did not exist, according to investigators. Video shows the two partying on a yacht for Brave's brother's birthday.

In May, Brave charged $1,610.22 for a trip to Boston, staying at the Marriot Long Wharf and taking a sunset dinner cruise, which he said was for New Hampshire Special Olympics, or Big Brothers/Big Sisters, or the Boys and Girls Club of America. He allegedly told investigators he wasn't sure which organization was correct.

That's the event where Brave was confronted with the video of him entering and exiting the hotel with a woman and kissing her.

Brave, in multiple recent interviews, has continued to deny all allegations against him and state they are a political and racist attack on him.

More: Strafford County commissioners give Sheriff Brave last chance: Take leave or face removal

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Documents detail Sheriff Mark Brave's alleged lies on affairs, trips