State lawmaker draws scrutiny after release of records
Jonathan F. Stone, an ex-cop who police feared would go ‘postal,’ is now politically connected; alliances include Ayotte and Trump
CONCORD, N.H. — Representative Jonathan F. Stone reported to the New Hampshire State House on Thursday and voted on legislation, still having said nothing publicly regarding the jaw-dropping news about him that broke a week earlier.
Stone, 50, a Republican from Claremont, had spent years fighting to block the release of certain records about how his policing career unraveled. He appealed all the way to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, but lost — and the documents were released.
The documents detail internal investigations that found evidence Stone had threatened physical and sexual violence as he came under scrutiny for what his superiors concluded in 2006 was an inappropriate relationship with a teenage girl.
Colleagues at the Claremont Police Department reported that Stone had made comments about murdering them in a mass shooting and raping the police chief ’s wife and children. Several expressed concerns Stone might go “postal,” and one Claremont police detective said people generally viewed Stone as “crazy” and wondered why he was in law enforcement, according to investigatory reports reviewed by the Globe.
The substance of these records was first reported by Damien Fisher for InDepthNH on April 5, then by Kevin Landrigan for the New Hampshire Union Leader on April 8. Fisher requested the records in 2020, and the Union Leader teamed up with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire to litigate for their release.
The records show that Stone was fired in 2006, but appealed his termination with help from the police union and ultimately reached a negotiated arrangement in which the city would effectively “turn back the clock” so Stone could resign without any findings being entered with regard to the internal investigations against him.
Based on the negotiated resignation, the New Hampshire Police Standards & Training Council concluded in 2007 that it could not pursue Stone’s decertification as a law enforcement officer, according to the records. Stone has since worked for the Vermont Department of Corrections and served as a Claremont city councilor. Now he co-owns a gun shop and serves as a politically connected GOP state lawmaker.
Stone has not responded to requests for comment. His allies — including presidential candidate Donald J. Trump, gubernatorial candidate Kelly A. Ayotte, and New Hampshire House Speaker Sherman A. Packard — have kept mum as well.
Stone gave Trump a customized rifle during the 2016 campaign. Now he serves as the Sullivan County chair for Trump’s 2024 campaign. Trump even
gave him a shout-out, by name, from the stage during a rally in Claremont last fall.
There is still no word on whether the Trump campaign will boot Stone from its list of local chairs. Stephen Stepanek, the campaign’s state-level chair, told HuffPost’s S.V. Date on Wednesday that no decision had been made. “I think it will be handled by Mar-a-Lago, in consultation with me,” he added.
Spokespeople for Trump’s campaign did not respond to the Globe’s requests for comment.
Ayotte, who is running in a contested GOP primary for New Hampshire governor, has touted Stone’s endorsement and posted photos on social media from her visit to Stone’s gun store while on the campaign trail. Her spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment from the Globe, and Democrats have been criticizing her for remaining silent.
Aside from the endorsement, Ayotte has another potential connection to this case. She was New Hampshire attorney general from 2004 to 2009. In that capacity, she served on the Police Standards & Training Council. Her spokespeople did not respond to questions about whether authorities took adequate steps in 2006 and 2007 to hold Stone accountable.
John V. Scippa, who became director of the Police Standards & Training Council in 2020, said the council is “no longer dependent on agency employment decisions.” The relevant state law was amended in 2022 to allow the council to hear cases regarding a broader range of police misconduct allegations, he said. The changes were based on recommendations made in 2020 by a commission on law enforcement accountability and transparency, he added.
After his separation from the Claremont Police Department, Stone worked for the Vermont DOC, at least as recently as 2021, according to salary data published by the Burlington Free Press. Stone said during a candidates forum in October 2022 that he had worked 15 years for Vermont DOC but no longer worked there.
Additional details are hard to come by. Citing an exemption under that state’s public records law, the Vermont DOC denied the Globe’s request for documents that would identify the length of his employment and the findings of any investigations into his workplace conduct there.
Meanwhile, the response from Republican leaders in the New Hampshire House has been muted as well. The chamber’s Democratic leader, Representative Matthew B. Wilhelm of Manchester, issued a statement on Monday calling on Packard to remove Stone from the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.
“Whether this behavior occurred last week, last year, or last decade, it is clearly beyond the pale for an elected official,” Wilhelm said.
Packard and his spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.