A Sidney woman who testified in a recent murder trial in Augusta was sentenced Monday in federal court for maintaining a drug-involved premises and aiding and abetting.
Amanda Ware, 31, was sentenced to time served and was placed on supervised release for three years after Monday’s hearing in U.S. District Court in Bangor. A separate charge of conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine base was dismissed.
According to a prosecution memo arguing against a reduced sentence for Ware, “The defendant admitted that she exercised dominion and control over the residence and contributed to its maintenance and acknowledged that, despite raising a family there, drug dealing was a substantial purpose of the residence.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel B. Casey noted in the same memo that a co-defendant, Denton Worrell, possessed a firearm in those premises “in furtherance of the crime.”
Ware and three others were arrested in October 2016 after a police raid on her Shepherd Drive home.
Seized at the residence were 1 ounce of crack cocaine, 8 grams of heroin, a half-pound pound of marijuana and $1,000 cash, according to a news release from the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office. While Ware was charged initially in state court with three counts of unlawful trafficking in drugs, unlawful possession of drugs and criminal conspiracy, those charges were dismissed in December 2016.
She was arrested on the federal charges in August 2017 and released on $5,000 unsecured bail with conditions. However, she was re-arrested a month later for allegedly violating those conditions.
She pleaded guilty March 7, 2018, to maintaining a drug-involved premises and aiding and abetting in connection with a central Maine drug conspiracy. A plea agreement capped her jail time at 18 months. She was represented by attorney Edward MacColl. Ware was one of 16 defendants in the federal case.
On May 17, 2018, Ware, who was being held at the Hancock County jail, was called as a witness by the prosecution at the jury-waived trial of Aubrey Armstrong, who was accused of murder in the November 2015 bludgeoning death of Joseph Marceau in Augusta. The trial was held at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta.
Ware testified that she had encountered Armstrong in Augusta and in various drug deals, and recalled he used a white or silver cellphone. Ware said that a white cellphone found by investigators on the ground outside the building where the slaying took place could be the one she saw Armstrong using. It was shown to her in a plastic evidence bag.
She also testified that she had talked with Armstrong about marijuana — which she said was his drug of choice, not hers — and that he told her “something about him being down 10 grand and he had to come up with 10 grand before going home.”
Armstrong, of Far Rockaway, New York, was cleared of murder but convicted of felony murder and robbery of Marceau.
She also testified that she and her attorney had negotiated various immunity agreements about her testimony.
Conditions of her federal supervised release require her to participate in mental health treatment and workforce development programs, and they prohibit her from use or possession of alcohol and illegal drugs.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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