AUGUSTA — A city man was ordered to serve an initial year in prison and three more years were suspended after he was caught selling drugs from his Bridge Street home.
Larry Murphy, 43, pleaded guilty Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center to unlawful drug trafficking, which occurred Aug. 17 and Nov. 9, 2016, and March 29, 2017. In addition to the four-year total sentence, Murphy was placed on two years probation and fined $400.
On the first two dates, Murphy sold heroin to an confidential informant, according to Assistant Attorney General Katie Sibley.
On the more recent date, Murphy was one of three men arrested at 117 Bridge St., when police reported finding heroin and cocaine in bags on a roof outside a second-story window that was open about 2 inches. Murphy was on bail on the early charges at that time, and pleaded guilty to a charge of violation of condition of release.
On Tuesday, Sibley said that Augusta police searched the place after they “continued to get information about drug activity at (Murphy’s) Bridge Street residence.”
She said they found 12 grams of heroin and 17 grams of cocaine on the roof outside a window.
In addition to the four-year total sentence, Murphy was placed on two years probation.
Murphy’s attorney, Jonathan Handelman, argued successfully to have the four $400 fines made concurrent so the total fine was only $400.
He told Justice Daniel Billings, “Larry is struggling with addiction. When he gets out of prison, he will have an uphill battle to begin with.”
Billings told Murphy that he now will have four felony convictions on his record.
“You got involved in trafficking to support your habit,” Billings said, noting that Murphy was freed on bail once because of his cooperation with police, but then violated bail conditions. “If you make that same mistake gain, you’ve got three years hanging over your head.”
He also warned him that another drug trafficking conviction would carry a four-year mandatory minimum.
Two other men were arrested along with Murphy that day.
Matthew A. Mason II, 18, of Sandusky, Ohio, later waived extradition to return to that state to face a murder charge.
The other man, Trevon Orman, 22, also of Sandusky, Ohio, was charged with two counts of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs and remains at the Kennebec County jail.
In a separate hearing also Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center, Scott York, 41, of Augusta, pleaded guilty to reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon — a motor vehicle — and failure to stop for an officer in what the prosecutor said was a drug-related incident.
He was sentenced to an initial seven months in jail, with the remainder of the three-year term suspended while he is on probation for two years.
Sibley told Billings that Maine Drug Enforcement Agency officers were watching a local hotel for Edwin Lawrence, 24, who was wanted on an arrest warrant charging him with six counts of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs.
She said Lawrence came out of the building and get into a Ford Ranger driven by York, and that when they signaled the vehicle to stop on Western Avenue, Officer Todd Chilton approached it. “As he was at the door and identified himself, the vehicle sped away and almost hit him.”
Shortly afterward, after failing to make a turn, it came to a rest down an embankment, according to an affidavit filed in the case.
Sibley said Chilton pulled out his service weapon because he believed the vehicle was going to ram him, and two other individuals ran from the vehicle, including Lawrence.
York was arrested, and $1,858 was seized from him, which he forfeited to the state.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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