DiPaola was found in a Wells, Maine resort hotel room. Wells Police said they found a multiple page note and firearm next to DiPaola.

DiPaola had recently come under scrutiny for a plan to collect his pension and a salary from the sheriff’s office and had been facing a state ethics probe connected to campaign fundraising.

News of DiPaola’s death shocked political circles Saturday.

“This is a shocking and tragic event. I extend my deepest condolences to the DiPaola family and to the sheriff’s staff, all of whom are certainly reeling with this news. Sheriff DiPaola had a 30-year record of public service. Tonight we honor that service and pray for his family,” Gov. Deval Patrick said in a statement.

“I am deeply saddened by the death of Sheriff DiPaola, with whom I had the chance to serve in the House of Representatives,” said House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo in a statement. “My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”

DiPaola, a former Malden police officer, was first elected sheriff in 1996. In Somerville, he had advocated the idea of building a jail on the eastern side of the city that would also house a new public safety building for the Somerville Police Department.

DiPaola advocated for a jail in Somerville and toured potential locations in response to overcrowding at the jail in Cambridge.

He also often organized cleanups of Somerville sites, such as the Lowell Street Bridge, with inmates of Middlesex correctional facilities.