By Craig Crosby
Kennebec Journal
Raymond Moinester developed a reputation during 23 years with the Augusta Police Department for getting criminals to spill their secrets.
But he is decidedly less comfortable when someone squeals on him.
“Raymond will never tell you this,” said Augusta police Detective Vicente Morris, stealing a glance at an uneasy Moinester. “Every year, some of us get a check for sick time. Every year, Ray takes his check and donates it to the Bread of Life.”
Moinester smiles, and then, with Morris out of the room, sets the record straight.
The checks, which Moinester has given the last few years, have actually gone to Bread of Life, the Special Olympics and the Salvation Army.
“It was my way of thanking my maker for my health,” Moinester said.
Now, still healthy at 61, Moinester is moving on from the Augusta Police Department.
Police and other city employees celebrated his last day during a gathering at Augusta City Center.
“This is a young person’s game, and I’m an old person,” Moinester said. “It’s been a good career. There are great people working in this place.”
Moinester, who was born and raised in New York City, joined Augusta police in 1988 after a two-year stint in the Marines and 15 years delivering packages around New York for UPS.
He was 38 when he joined the department, making him one of the older recruits at the time.
“I never regretted it,” he said. “I never looked back.”
Moinester has spent the past eight years as the department’s records officer. But, before that, he was a juvenile officer working to help troubled young people leave the system.
Moinester, who also was a DARE officer, spent a lot of time in schools and investigating reports of sex crimes against children.
“I was basically a school liaison officer. You had to have a lot of energy,” Moinester said. “There were times I’d leave one school and go to another and stop on the way to testify before a grand jury.”
Moinester’s work led to a position in the Criminal Investigation Division.
Alan Kelley, now deputy district attorney for Kennebec County, said in 2004 that Moinester’s ability to get suspects to open up spared many victims from having to testify.
Moinester is “just an incredibly likable person,” said Kelley, who prosecuted many of Moinester’s child sex cases. “Ray has a way about him where people just want to talk to him.”
Moinester now deals regularly with individuals on the sex offender registry -- and he routinely crosses paths with those he helped convict.
“When they come back to register, we actually have a good rapport,” Moinester said. “I treated them with respect and dignity and they’ve told me they appreciate it.”
Moinester’s sympathy for victims and their families, and the families of the suspects, has only deepened with time.
“Those crimes are devastating,” he said.
And investigating them took a toll, Moinester admits.
He has spent years coaching youth hockey and football and became an umpire one day when he was sitting in the stands at a game and there was no one to call balls and strikes.
Moinester hopped behind the plate and has been a regular in the rotation ever since.
“It dawned on me,” he said. “I like being with kids in a good environment because I was with so many in a bad environment. It was therapeutic.”
Moinester finds it ironic now when parents and players thank him for taking time to help.
“The last couple of years, I’ve been thanking them,” he said.
Moinester has friends who want to take him fishing. He’ll probably go, he says. He is also looking forward to hiking and exploring the rest of the state. Moinester loves people and loves to read. He’s going to find ways to feed both.
“Otherwise, I’m a frustrated landscaper,” he said.
Moinester has 38 years with the Teamsters union between his time at UPS and with the Augusta police; Teamsters represent Augusta police officers.
Moinester said he hopes to volunteer time supporting organized labor. “I’ve been treated extremely well by this agency and this city,” Moinester said. “Unions and management can coexist. It’s been proven here in Augusta.”
Moinester’s work may even help officers with the Augusta police. But that offers little consolation to the department that has enjoyed his good nature and sharp skill for the past two decades.
“It’s going to be a great loss for us,” Morris said. “We’re going to miss him.”
Copyright 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning