Reports show Claremont lawmaker made violent threats following 2006 police probe

Jonathan Stone

Jonathan Stone Courtesy

By JOSH ROGERS

NHPR

Published: 04-10-2024 11:30 AM

Newly released investigatory documents show Republican state Rep. Jonathan Stone lost his job as a police officer in 2006 after he made multiple threats of violence against police department colleagues.

Stone’s comments — which included claims he would kill other officers and rape the wife and children of then-Claremont Police Chief Alex Scott — came after the department suspended Stone for five days for engaging in an “innapropriate” relationship with a 16-year-old Stevens High School student.

“The seriousness of threatening to kill command staff officers, raping the Chief's wife, tying people up and going postal are violations at the most serious level,” a Claremont police detective wrote in an internal report.

“Stone's conduct goes so far beyond what is expected of a professional police officer that the only appropriate resolution is his removal from office,” the report concluded.

The report adds that Stone, who is also a former Claremont city councilor and who runs a gun shop called Black Op Arms, didn't deny making threats but claimed not to remember many of his comments.

The newly released documents also indicate Stone failed a polygraph test during the investigation.

The content of these police investigations were first reported by InDepthNH. Their release, which Stone fought, followed a years-long legal battle that went all the way to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

InDepthNH reported Monday that the 2006 internal investigations of Stone were shared with New Hampshire’s Police Standards and Training Council and the Sullivan County Attorney’s Office, neither of which took action on them.

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Stone did not respond to NHPR's request for comment. Nor did New Hampshire House Speaker Sherman Packard, who assigned Stone — now in his second term in the Legislature — to sit on the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm said Monday that he has asked Packard to remove Stone from his committee post.

“Whether this behavior occurred last week, last year, or last decade, it is clearly beyond the pale for an elected official,” Wilhelm said in a statement.