Trial Set for Former Bar Harbor Resident Accused of Gross Sexual Assault
If you or someone you know needs support because of sexual violence, you can contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.
BAR HARBOR—On March 21, 2023, David C. Gordon, 51, previously a Bar Harbor resident, was arrested by Sgt. Jerrod Hardy of the Bar Harbor Police Department and charged with gross sexual assault, class B. On August 11, 2023, a Hancock County grand jury indicted Gordon for the same charge. Jury selection is scheduled to begin next week for the trial, which is scheduled for the end of the month.
On March 21, 2023, the then 27-year-old female complainant walked into the Bar Harbor Police Department accompanied by two of her employers and a coworker and said that she wanted to inquire about getting a protection order against another coworker. Sgt. Doug Brundrett spoke with the woman and learned that she had possibly been the victim of a sexual assault.
Sgt. Brundrett passed what information he had learned to Sgt. Hardy, who investigates sexual assaults for the department, and Sgt. Hardy took over the investigation.
The woman told Sgt. Hardy that she had been employed by the company that she worked for since November 2022, and that Gordon was hired on there as a chef in January 2023. She also said that both she and Gordon were in Bar Harbor working under J1 visas and that she is a citizen of the Philippines and Gordon is a citizen of Jamaica.
According to court documents and police reports, sometime around the end of February or the beginning of March 2023, the woman and Gordon had been discussing the possibility of becoming U.S. citizens by marrying someone who was born in the United States. Gordon told her that he could help her find someone to marry and that he had helped others do this before.
On an evening during this time period, Gordon told the woman to come to his apartment around 9 p.m. and she did. According to police reports, after she arrived, Gordon told the woman that he needed to take some naked photos of her to show to someone who was interested in marrying her and had asked to see photos of her naked. The woman said that she was nervous to take her clothes off but did so because she was worried that if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to marry someone from the U.S. Gordon took photos of her without any clothes on.
While the woman was undressed, she said that Gordon took his clothes off and they engaged in sexual activity. Again, the woman said that she was doing this to further her chances of marrying someone from the U.S.
After, Gordon told the woman that he would be getting back in touch with her about the interested party soon and two days later he did, telling her to come to his residence again to meet with the prospective “client.”
The woman again showed up around 9 p.m. at Gordon’s residence and after hanging out for two to three hours with no “client” showing up, Gordon told her that he wanted to have sex again.
During the original interview, the woman told Officer Hardy that, “she was reluctant but agreed under the impression that this was for the purpose of the ‘client’ that she was to marry.” Due to the overall uncomfortableness of the woman, intercourse did not occur on this occasion. She left Gordon’s residence shortly thereafter.
According to the woman, approximately two days later, she realized that she was being used and she stopped replying to Gordon’s text messages.
Some days later, the woman said she received a text message from Gordon that included four pictures of herself naked that Gordon had taken on her first visit to his residence. Police reports say that she replied and asked Gordon to delete the photographs.
The same reports say that Gordon responded and said, “So I text you that we need to talk . . . because of stuff that I heard and you ignored me . . . now you answer.”
She replied that he was blackmailing her and again asked him to delete the photographs.
According to reports, Gordon replied that he wanted to meet up with her again and she said no. Gordon then texted, “OK . . . are you testing me?”
After continued texting, Gordon said, “There are persons of interest I can show these photos to . . . are you testing me.” Gordon reminded her that they had entered into an agreement to create a fake marriage for the purposes of defrauding the U.S. government. He then went on to say that he expected her to respond by 9 p.m. and also added that he had recorded their conversation at his residence and that if she wanted him to delete everything, that she needed to meet with him and they would do it “together.”
The woman responded that she would only meet with him in a public place or if she could bring a friend with her. Gordon then texted her pornographic photographs from what appeared to the woman to be a pornographic website and in one of the pictures, a “share” button was highlighted. “Uploading is free. . . ??????. . . don’t push it,” Gordon texted.
The woman then told her two roommates where she was going in case something happened and she went to the parking lot of the Ledgelawn Inn to meet with Gordon in his vehicle. After some conversation in the vehicle, Gordon allegedly told the woman that he would delete the photographs if she had sex with him again. After arguing about it for approximately two hours, they drove to Gordon’s residence and had intercourse, according to the woman.
After, Gordon allowed her to delete the photographs from his phone and she pulled out her phone and deleted all of their texts in front of Gordon. The woman then left Gordon’s residence and walked home. Prior to meeting with Gordon on this evening, the woman had taken screenshots of their text conversations and downloaded them to another device.
The following day, the woman reported the sequence of events to her bosses and they took her to the police department. Gordon was fired from his employment at that business that day.
Later that same day, Sgt. Hardy interviewed Gordon. During the interview, Gordon allegedly admitted to having an agreement to arrange a fraudulent marriage for the woman and allegedly stated that he had helped others in the same way before.
Gordon also allegedly admitted to having sex with the woman on her first visit to his residence and that she allegedly said yes when asked if he could photograph her, touch her, and have sex with her.
According to a police report written by Sgt. Hardy Gordon said, “The purpose of this was to make sure she was willing to go through with it and adapt because marrying someone in the way he was going to set her up, she would have to accommodate to a new lifestyle.”
Gordon allegedly made some more statements that corroborated the woman’s story during the interview and after the completion of the interview, Gordon was served with a summons charging gross sexual assault, class B and transported to the Hancock County Jail.
On March 27, 2023, Gordon was able to post $10,000 cash bail and bailed out from the jail with conditions to have no contact with the complainant and to have no contact with the business where the woman and he were coworkers.
Gordon is set to have a jury trial in Hancock Superior Court January 21 and 22, 2025, after jury selection on January 9.
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