By Nok-noi Ricker
The Bangor Daily
BANGOR, Me. - A 24-hour statewide blitz by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency has netted more than 90 people who were arrested for everything from trafficking heroin or marijuana to probation violations.
“We’ve been working on them for a while,” said Garry Higgins, MDEA supervisory special agent for the Bangor-based North Central Regional Taskforce, District 5. “We charged seven people just in our office with various drug charges.”
The drug busts, dubbed Operation Byrne Blitz, were part of a national operation held from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning to spotlight what drug task forces do in one day and how a drastic drop in federal funding for state drug enforcement agencies across the nation will hurt efforts, Roy E. McKinney, MDEA director, said Thursday.
“There is no other word than devastating” to describe the cuts, McKinney said.
Federal funding was cut 67 percent from 2007 to 2008, which caused Maine’s figures to drop from $1.7 million to just $629,096, said McKinney.
The cuts mean 13 Maine task force officers and six prosecutors will lose their jobs.
“The sale and use of drugs affects every Maine community,” he said in a press release. “Drugs ruin people’s lives and bring crime and violence into our communities.”
The 24-hour blitz resulted in the seizure of 5.5 grams of crack cocaine, 8 grams of powder cocaine, 5 grams of heroin, 1 methamphetamine tablet, 61 illegally possessed narcotic prescription pills, 4 LSD tablets and 1.8 pounds of marijuana. One vehicle and $13,350 cash also were confiscated.
Of the 91 arrests statewide, 34 dealt with cocaine or cocaine base, 13 involved marijuana, 22 were a result of probation violations or violations of conditions of release, one was for unpaid fines and another was taken in for operating after suspension, according to the arrest log.
Of the seven arrests resulting from investigations by the Bangor-based MDEA office, three were made in Bangor, one in Brewer and one in Dover-Foxcroft. Also, two University of Maine students, who are on spring break, were arrested in their southern Maine hometowns, Higgins said.
Two of the Bangor arrests were connected, he said. After Jeffery Paoletti, 24, was picked up for possession of Schedule W drugs, police got a warrant for his girlfriend Heidi Henderson’s apartment.
“She’s also charged with possession of cocaine and for falsifying criminal evidence because she was flushing it down the toilet,” Higgins said.
The third person arrested in Bangor, Kevin Walsh, 43, was brought in for an outstanding warrant based out of the midcoast MDEA office after agents in that office found out he was living in Bangor, Higgins said, adding he had no information on the case.
Christopher Brown, 31, of Brewer was arrested for trafficking cocaine and Gerald Roussel, 46, of Dover-Foxcroft was caught for trafficking in morphine. University of Maine students Benjamin Wade, 18, of South Berwick and Michael Sarwari, 19, of Windham were arrested at their homes for trafficking marijuana.
Last year’s blitz, which lasted a week, nabbed about 82 people, McKinney said.
Though fewer people were arrested, “I believe the number of drugs seized was significantly higher [last year],” he said. “With a week they were able to do more searches.”
Copyright 2008 The Bangor Daily