A New York man who was one of 16 people charged in a central Maine drug conspiracy indictment was sentenced Tuesday at U.S. District Court in Bangor to three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Derrius Smalls, aka “G,” Smalls, 20, of Rochester, New York, had pleaded guilty previously to possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and heroin.
The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Casey, wrote in a memo filed with the court that Smalls was part of the conspiracy to distribute those drugs throughout the state, and that a cooperating defendant had arranged to get cocaine and heroin sent from Rochester by Darrell Newton. Newton, who was described as the leader of the conspiracy, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in October.
The prosecution’s version of the offense says Smalls and Brent Hercules were to drive the drugs to a commercial parking lot in the Portland area.
Prior to Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, the government sought a relatively longer sentence for Smalls, saying he ran from the motor vehicle stop March 9, 2017, and concealed drugs in a wooded area near Payne Road in Scarborough. Hercules was the driver.
An intensive search by police with drug-detecting dogs located a cache the next day containing 46.78 grams of heroin and 83.9 grams of crack cocaine.
Smalls was represented by attorney John Paul DeGrinney, who wrote in a defense sentencing memo that by the time Smalls was 12, “he had survived being shot” and had lost both his father and uncle to murder.
DeGrinney wrote that when the vehicle was stopped in Scarborough, Smalls “had a panicked reaction to being detained by the police, and abandoned the contraband the moment he came to his senses.”
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
Send questions/comments to the editors.
