BARRE — On Thursday, February 27, 2025, at approximately 2:20 p.m., Officer Mark Sawyer of the Barre Police Department responded to a report of a restraining order violation at Hamshaw Lumber, located at 99 South Barre Road.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Sawyer and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
In this case, Officer Sawyer reported that he was contacted by a Hamshaw Lumber finance department employee—the protected party in an active restraining order against Alexander Strachan, 60, of Templeton.
“I advised [the employee] that our entire interaction would be audio and video recorded utilizing the department-issued Body Worn Camera,” Officer Sawyer wrote in his report.
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According to the report, the employee said she had been alerted by a co-worker that Strachan had contacted him via Facebook Messenger earlier that afternoon. Officer Sawyer documented the message, allegedly sent by Strachan at 1:38 p.m., as follows:
“You can tell my friend that the state police are after me now fu$k*ng bi*ch.”
Officer Sawyer said the phrase “my friend” referred to the finance department employee—the same individual protected by the restraining order.
Strachan currently has open charges for previous violations of that same order, court records show. The restraining order remains active.
Officer Sawyer said he spoke with the co-worker who received the Facebook message from Strachan, who agreed to provide a formal written statement.
“Due to the totality of the circumstances, I believe there to be probable cause to charge Mr. Alexander Strachan with the following offense: Chapter 209A §7A — Violation of a Restraining Order,” Officer Sawyer wrote.
The alleged violation occurred just days before Strachan was charged with larceny for allegedly withdrawing $2,000 from Hamshaw Lumber’s account—approximately five months after his termination from the company.
Read more: Templeton man charged with larceny after withdrawing $2K from former employer’s account in Barre
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from February, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.
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