AUGUSTA — Nearly $1 million in federal grant funding will be used to hire four new drug agents and specialized equipment for responding to suspected methamphetamine labs. The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $905,102 to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, Gov. Paul LePage announced Tuesday. The competitive grant was the third-largest of $6 million awarded […]
mdea
Posted inFranklin
Three men charged after Livermore Falls drug bust
LIVERMORE FALLS — Three men were each being held Saturday on $10,000 cash bail at an Auburn jail after police and drug agents seized about 20 pounds of marijuana, Livermore Falls Lt. Joseph Sage said Saturday. They also seized $3,900 in suspected drug proceeds, he said. Sage and officer Stephen Gould began an investigation Friday […]
advertisement
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Oxford Hills
Man facing drug charges accused of assaulting witness
PARIS — Police said a man accused of manufacturing and selling methamphetamine was arrested Tuesday on a charge of attacking a witness who gave evidence against him. Rodney Levesque, 35, of Hunts Corner Road in Albany Township, was arrested in Bethel on Aug. 12 by an Oxford County Sheriff’s deputy on charges of tampering with a […]
Posted inFranklin, The Franklin Journal
Affidavit says confidential informant led police to Phillips drug lab
PHILLIPS – Maine drug agents had been investigating suspected drug trafficker Jason Fowler of Chesterville since July 9 when a confidential informant spoke to police, according to a Maine Drug Enforcement agent’s affidavit filed with the Farmington court. Fowler, 39, and Michael Halle, 45, of Phillips, Erin Smith, 42, of Phillips and Kimberly Webber, 25, […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
MDEA agents investigate possible meth lab in Aroostook County
MERRILL — Maine agents have responded to a suspected methamphetamine lab near Houlton. Agents conducted an undercover purchase of meth from the home prior to delivering the search warrant. The department says agents successfully dismantled the lab with assistance from the Department of Environmental Protection and the Oakfield Fire Department. Officials are not releasing the […]
Posted inMaine
Maine House passes bill to add drug agents; LePage threatens veto
AUGUSTA — The Maine House on Wednesday, with broad bipartisan support, passed an amended version of a Gov. Paul LePage bill that adds drug enforcement agents, judges and prosecutors to the state’s payroll in an effort to bring under control the state’s growing opiate drug problems. The measure also increases funding to the Maine Department […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Oxford Hills
Police name Gilead man as leader, teacher of meth cookers
PARIS — Police say a Gilead man with an “extensive” multi-state felony criminal record has confessed to teaching his family members, friends and others to cook methamphetamine. David Lee Thompson, 52, was one of eight people arrested Friday when law enforcement agents executed search warrants on homes in Gilead, Greenwood and Oxford along with Albany […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Maine’s education boss sees Lewiston’s Montello school’s new plans
LEWISTON — At Montello Elementary School on Thursday morning, the lesson was multiplication in Jessie Hartford’s fifth-grade class. Some students worked in teams. Others, including Paige Gagnon and Julia Svor, played card games or “multiplication war,” which reinforced the multiplication table. Maisie Whelchel challenged Maine Department of Education Acting Commissioner Jim Rier to a game […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Oxford Hills, River Valley
Two arrested on drug charges in Mexico
PARIS — Two Mexico residents were arrested Tuesday as part of an ongoing investigation into drug trafficking in the River Valley. Ashley Morissette, 22, and Nicholas Varnum, 23, were arrested after law enforcement agents executed a Maine Drug Enforcement Agency search warrant at a house on Sun Valley Circle the morning of Dec. 31. Morissette […]
Posted inMaine
Maine battles record year for meth labs
A 29-year-old woman with a toddler is busted inside a run-down camper. Two 20-something brothers are caught in a family cabin deep in the Maine woods. A 32-year-old woman in a mobile home tries to run when agents show up. She doesn’t get far. Still more people are discovered allegedly cooking meth in their cars, […]