BENTON — Two Patten women have been indicted on charges they possessed more than 100 grams of fentanyl when stopped by police last August on Interstate 95.
Carol Lee Andrews, 49, and Taylor Bishop, 25, were traveling northbound in a Mercury Mystique when a state trooper stopped the car in Benton, according to an affidavit from Ronnie L. Blodgett of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Cpl. Derek Record of the Maine State Police, who initiated the traffic stop, reportedly suspected there were drugs in the car and requested Blodgett’s assistance.
When Record asked if there were drugs inside the car, Andrews and Bishop said no, according to the affidavit.
Record and his police dog then inspected the car. The dog indicated drugs were inside the vehicle, according to police.
When asked again if there were drugs in the car, Andrews said Bishop had drugs hidden on herself, according to police.
Officers retrieved the drugs from Bishop and searched the car, finding a safe containing $2,199 in cash, a digital scale, a second package of drugs, paper wrappings, a ledger and a bag with several types of pills, one of which could be used to make methamphetamine, according to the affidavit.
Court records do not indicate where the drugs were obtained, but the women told police they had been in Manchester earlier in the day.
Andrews and Bishop were taken to the Kennebec County Correctional Facility in Augusta, where it was determined they had 112 grams of either fentanyl or methamphetamine, according to the affidavit.
Further testing determined the drugs to be fentanyl, according to indictments handed up Dec. 23 by a Kennebec County grand jury. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid typically used to treat patients experiencing severe pain.
The women were indicted on charges that include aggravated drug trafficking.
The indictments allege Andrews and Bishop intentionally or knowingly trafficked in fentanyl powder and intended to provide money in exchange for drugs.
An indictment is not a determination of guilt, but indicates there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.
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