An outside review has found no evidence that Sagadahoc Sheriff Mark Westrum inappropriately touched a fellow officer then retaliated against him afterward.

Former drug agent Mark Damren alleged that Westrum inappropriately touched him during a boat trip on the Kennebec River in 2006. He said the sheriff then retaliated.

According to a press release issued by the Sagadahoc County Commissioners, an attorney hired to review the case found “no reliable basis” to determine whether there had been a touching incident, since the two men were the only ones on the trip. Portland attorney Jonathan Goodman determined that Damren “was not subject to retaliation or adverse action in employment following the boat ride.”

Damren had been put on paid administrative leave from his duties as an undercover drug agent from Jan. 28 to March 3 based on allegations that he misused his cell phone. He was then suspended without pay for one month, and only recently returned to work, where he was reassigned to patrol.

County commissioners hired the attorney to look into the matter in February, the same month the sheriff’s department’s union voted 15-0, with two members absent, to demand that Westrum remove Chief Deputy Joseph ‘Jay’ Manhardt, who had initiated the disciplinary action against Damren.

Goodman’s 19-page report also noted problems in management, supervision and professionalism within the sheriff’s department, according to the press release. Commissioners say those issues will be part of a future management study of all sheriff’s department operations.