MANCHESTER, NH – Paul Francis Stanford, a self-described out-of-work stockbroker from Plymouth, Mass., lost his bid to obtain a restraining order against Alderman Keith Hirschmann who, he alleged, is a member of a secret extra-governmental task force who has been surveilling him and infiltrating his electronic communications.
“There is not a shred of credible evidence to support the plaintiff’s beliefs,” Judge N. William Delker wrote in his order dated Sept. 22, 2021.
Stanford, at a Sept. 3, 2021 hearing in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District, told the judge that he came into contact with Hirschmann while researching the murder of Denise Robert, 62. He hoped to solve the murder and collect the $45,000 reward. During his research, he said he came across a Facebook page of people who had formed an illicit task force.
One of those members, he said, is Hirschmann.
In his complaint requesting the restraining order, Stanford said Hirschmann claimed to be part of a “secret police force undercover operation and repeatedly threatened me.” Since then, he said, he has been subjected to daily harassment, threats and illegal surveillance.
Hirschmann, who was represented by fellow alderman and attorney Joe Kelly Levasseur, denied the allegations.
Outside the courtroom, Hirschmann told a reporter that he was contacted by Stanford last February concerning police corruption. He said Stanford said he was a reporter but when Hirschmann asked about his credentials and for whom he worked, Stanford got upset. He said he received some emails from Stanford that mentioned Denise Robert. As a result, Hirschmann said he forwarded the emails to Police Chief Allen Aldenberg.
Levasseur told Delker that Hirschman doesn’t know Stanford or what he looks like – and still doesn’t – because Stanford, due to COVID-19, wore a mask while in the courthouse.
Levasseur also said that Stanford had also sent him emails that were “threatening in nature. They’re disturbing, your honor.”
Several times during the hearing Stanford told the judge, “I know how this sounds,” but asked him to hear him out. He said he discovered the task force on Facebook while researching the murder. He realized the members were talking in code, he said, and it took him about two months to break it.
Once he breached the group, he said, he began to be harassed and was under surveillance with cars following him when he left his Plymouth home.
Delker said he reviewed Stanford’s exhibits and considered his testimony but found there was no credible evidence to support his beliefs.
“The plaintiff presented at the hearing as a well-spoken professional individual. He acknowledged that his accusations sound insane but urged the court to review the exhibits with an open mind. The Court has done so,” Delker wrote.
“The content of the exhibits submitted by the plaintiff appear to be the product of paranoid delusion. The unanswered emails, which the plaintiff claims are proof that his electronic communications are intercepted, are profanity-laced ad hominem attacks on the public officials listed as recipients of the emails. Given the abusive nature of the emails it is not surprising that the plaintiff did not receive an official response,” Delker wrote.
He said since the case “is completely devoid of factual basis, the plaintiff’s request for a restraining order is DENIED and the case is DISMISSED.”