Ex-firefighter absolved of sex charges

NASHUA – A former Litchfield firefighter was cleared on sexual assault and assault charges during a jury trial Wednesday at Hillsborough County Superior Court.

Albert Griffin, of 5 Robin Court, Litchfield, was charged in 2007 with sexually assaulting a girl between September 2006 and October 2007. He was facing seven counts of simple assault, two counts felonious sexual assault and one count each of aggravated felonious sexual assault, certain uses of computer services prohibited and endangering the welfare of a child.

The charge of certain uses of computer services was dropped and the endangering charge was nol-prossed, meaning prosecution was dropped, during the trial and a jury found Griffin not guilty on the remaining assault charges, according to court documents.

Griffin was arrested by Litchfield police in the fall of 2007, about a week after Litchfield Fire Chief Thomas Schofield found out about the allegations and put him on administrative leave. Griffin had worked as an on-call firefighter for the town since the spring of 2006, Schofield said.

Griffin’s wife, Carole Griffin, gushed in relief Thursday at the jury’s verdict.

“Al and I are thrilled,” Carole Griffin said. “We’ve been living under this for almost two years to the day. It was like being locked up for two years, but now it’s over. It was just really difficult, but it’s over. Hallelujah.”

Griffin had been accused of repeatedly touching the girl inappropriately and kissing her. He was also accused of using a computer to download pornographic video and showing it to the girl and of asking her to “fool around.” Carole Griffin said the jury took less than 45 minutes to come back with a not guilty verdict on the charges that hadn’t already been dropped or nol-prossed. The couple had been married barely six months when Albert Griffin was arrested and had to skip their honeymoon because of the conditions of his bail.

As a condition of his release on $10,000 bail, Albert Griffin had to stay in New Hampshire and couldn’t have unsupervised contact with anyone younger than 18, Carole Griffin said. Now the couple is free to take a trip for their delayed honeymoon and to visit family in New York.

“It was really quite a relief,” she said. “We’re going to try to go on and get on with our marriage.” Carole Griffin said she hopes her husband rejoins the Litchfield Fire Department but isn’t sure if he will.

“He’s just very happy. He feels really good about being exonerated. I would say he’s elated,” she said.

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nasuatelegraph.com.