Bangor Daily News
February 22, 2003


Baileyville officers and MDEA agents book
arrested for unlawful furnishings of
OxyContin during a recent sweep of the area.

Busted

The hunt for people suspected of dealing drugs down east Involves patience, as a steel door marked "Intake" slams shut behind them, two handcuffed men walk down a narrow hallway in the Washington County Jail, escorted by two officers.

Arrested five hours earlier in Baileyville, they have been driven an hour south to the Machias jail. Each is ordered, one after the other, to place a foot on the footprints painted on the floor and to place hands against oversized handprints painted onto the wall. Their handcuffs keep them from touching the handprints.

One officer watches as the other, a man wearing gloves, searches each man, feeling up legs to groins, around waists, across backs and chests.

Then the two are taken through another steel door. Their restraints are removed. They are fingerprinted and photographed. They are given orange jail clothes. They are placed in jail cells. They are suspects in Washington County's war on drug dealers.

The lone Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agent assigned to Washington County and its 33,000 residents is Rich Rolfe. His job primarily involves looking for dealers.

He and his boss in neighboring Aroostook County, Darrell Crandall, say there is no kingpin or don of drugs Down East. In fact, until recently, the business of drug trafficking in the area has been mostly a simple steal-or-deal mentality: a small-time opiate addict merely taking things to support a habit, or dealing drugs to make some money.

Although the drugs of choice for years were alcohol and marijuana, demand for addictive prescription drugs, especially OxyContin and Dilaudid, has dominated for the past four years. When used as prescribed, the drugs fight pain related to back injuries and terminal cancer. When diverted and abused, they produce a powerful high.

Now the amphetamine known as Ecstasy and an old demon, heroin, are making strong appearances.

Plus, a realignment in dealing is taking place. It includes suppliers, runners and dealers in a system that is reminiscent of the days when marijuana ruled.

The Washington County Sheriff's Department says such a network appears to be emerging in the area.

Unlike the steal-or-deal mentality, non-addicts and even former opiate addicts look to make a profit - "up to tens of thousands of dollars within a period of just a few months," said Lt. Michael Riggs of the Washington County Sheriff's Department.

Because the realignment is new and police still are investigating, Riggs provided few details.

But networks are forming, Riggs said. "They have suppliers, runners and dealers. The narcotics trafficking industry is maturing in Washington County."

There is nothing romantic or dramatic about what Rolfe does: just grueling hours of building a case.

Working alone or with other local, county and state agencies, he has to collect enough of the evidence that will allow him to knock on a suspected drug dealer's door.

That contrasts sharply with what much of the public perceives of police work because television has been the overwhelming teacher.

On TV, everything from building a case to arresting a trafficker happens within an hour.

In fact, Rolfe usually drives all the way to Houlton each Monday to MDEA's regional office to meet with Crandall, his supervisor. Crandall is responsible for all of Aroostook and Washington counties.

There, they talk about the informants Rolfe is working with and the people he is investigating.

Developing an informant is a complicated process. "What we have to do is find appropriate individuals to associate with criminals that they already are associating with," Crandall said.

Four years ago, when OxyContin was the new drug of choice Down East, police were able to arrest up to 20 people at a time and cut into the supply line.

Not today, Crandall said. Dealers are selling scared.

"We live in an area that is clanny, where everybody knows everybody or is loosely related or associated with everyone else," Crandall said. "So if an individual hasn't lived in an area and partied with the dealers, it is impossible for a stranger to buy drugs."

So police work with informants who either have volunteered or have been charged with any crime, not necessarily drug-related.

In return for cooperation, the informant is offered no guarantee of a reduced sentence. All MDEA will do, Crandall said, is inform the prosecutor that the informant cooperated.

The next step is to build a case using both informants and surveillance.

A few weeks ago, Rolfe gave an informant $55 to buy two gibbers, or marijuana cigarettes, and an Oxy pill. The informant was given a radio transmitter so police could listen.

MDEA officials were not willing to discuss the actual process of the buy, for fear of jeopardizing future investigations.

They did allow a Bangor Daily News reporter to accompany an MDEA officer on a buy on one occasion. The informant went to the alleged trafficker's home that night, but the alleged trafficker didn't have anything to sell.

Rolfe wasn't frustrated. "We'll get him," he said.

For the next few weeks, Rolfe systematically worked with other informants as he continued to build his case against six other people involved in unrelated cases.

After assembling his evidence, Rolfe contacted other agencies and the MDEA was ready.

At 9 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, officers from Maine State Police, the Washington County Sheriff's Department, and the Baileyville, Calais, Indian Township and Pleasant Point police departments assembled at Baileyville police headquarters. A Bangor Daily News reporter and photographer were present.

Crandall briefed the officers. "Everybody knows now why you are here. We are just going to arrest some people. These are probable cause arrests for felony drug trafficking. There are six people, five of them are in Baileyville and one is in Calais," he said.

Because the apprehensions would be "probable cause" arrests, there would be no forced entry.

Probable cause, according to Assistant District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh, exists when there is enough "objective evidence or information to believe the items to be seized in a search are evidence of a crime or enough objective evidence to believe the person being arrested had committed the crime."

Crandall told the officers that once they were inside a home there would be parameters under which they could search: "any area [the alleged dealer] can lunge to, reach for, get to - which, in a small kitchen, frankly, will be the whole kitchen. Please check that. Make sure they don't have any weapons and drugs there. For your safety you can do security sweeps which are not searches, but sweeps of the property. Check other rooms and make sure somebody isn't going to jump out and shoot you in the back," he said.

If, during a security sweep, contraband is found, the officers were told to notify MDEA. "We will make the determination at that point whether it makes sense to do a search warrant," he said.

Crandall directed the officers to write down any statement a suspect might make.

The plan called for the six people to be taken to the Baileyville Police Department and to be questioned there.

He then read the names of the five men and one woman to be arrested that day: Devery A. Johnson, 31, of Calais and five people from Baileyville: Albert "Junior" Harvey, 49; Fred Howard, 48; Jodi McLaughlin, 28; and Brian Rice II, 25. A sixth person, Troy Reynolds, 31, of Baileyville, was out of state that day.

Crandall then told the officers why the six were suspects: "The informant actually made a controlled purchase of the narcotic from each of these individuals. Five were OxyContin and one was Ecstasy," he said.

Rolfe assigned two men to each of the patrol cars. "When you arrest somebody, let me know," Rolfe said. "If you happen to see one of these people on the road, pull over and arrest them."

Within minutes the officers, all wearing bulletproof vests, were in their vehicles and headed to their targets.

Rolfe and Baileyville police Officer Stephen Tupper drove into the driveway at Albert "Junior" Harvey's home. When police entered the home, a Bangor Daily News reporter and photographer remained outside on the street and watched from a public way.

Tupper knocked on the door. When Harvey opened the door, Rolfe told him that he was under arrest. The two officers stepped just inside the trailer and handcuffed Harvey.

Harvey told the officers where his "stash" was, and one of the officers found around $500 worth of OxyContin tablets and less than an ounce of marijuana, an officer reported.

Howard, McLaughlin and Rice were arrested by other officers and taken to the police department in Baileyville, where they and Harvey were read their rights and told the charges against them.

In Calais, officers did not find Johnson at home. He was arrested on Franklin Street and taken to the Calais Police Department.

Harvey, Howard and Rice were charged with unlawful trafficking in OxyContin. McLaughlin was charged with unlawful furnishing of OxyContin, while Johnson was charged with unlawful trafficking in methylenedioxymethamphetamine, known as Ecstasy.

The suspect who was out of state, Troy Reynolds, was arrested Feb. 3 and charged with unlawful trafficking in OxyContin.

After the people arrested Jan. 30 were booked at the Washington County Jail, the next step was for Rolfe to assemble his paperwork and refer the cases to the state Attorney General's Office. In Maine, the attorney general is responsible for prosecuting MDEA cases.

Crandall said his office would press for felony convictions, which carry more prison time. "What we have to do is create as much disruption as we can," Crandall said. "When we are done with this group of arrests, six people will be in custody on felony charges. That may or may not immediately lead to the arrest of some other individuals."

Assistant Attorney General Matt Erickson said that the next step in such cases is for him to either present evidence at a probable cause hearing or present the cases to a grand jury. It is up to a grand jury to indict. After an indictment, a person is arraigned in Superior Court, where he or she can enter a guilty or not-guilty plea. After that, the matter can be resolved through a plea agreement or the case can go to trial.

As of Friday, Johnson, Howard and Rice had been released on bail, and probable cause hearings had been set for March 18.

McLaughlin remained jailed. Her probable cause hearing also had been set for March 18, MDEA officials said Friday.

Harvey was released on bail Jan. 31. A search of his home on Feb. 12 by MDEA and Washington County Sheriff's Department officers revealed he was in possession of one 40-milligram OxyContin tablet. A search of his home yielded scales and assorted drug paraphernalia. He appeared Feb. 13 on the most recent allegation in Superior Court and again made bail. He is expected to be appear April 8 on the drug trafficking charge. He is expected to be tried March 18 on the bail violation conduct, MDEA officials said.

Reynolds made bail and is expected to appear in court on April 8.

Often overlooked in discussions of drug busts is the fact that the people taken into custody sometimes need medical help.

Washington County does not have a comprehensive drug treatment program that can handle all addicts.

Sometimes addicts are placed in jail, and that is where many begin withdrawal. Last year, a reporter witnessed a woman who was in the first stages of withdrawal being helped into court by two corrections officers. Under the law, she had to appear.

When she was not throwing up in a wastepaper basket, she was writhing on the floor of the courtroom, grasping her stomach. After her appearance, she was taken back to her cell.

"We do not have the long-term rehab facilities that these people need," Washington County Sheriff Joseph Tibbetts said. "What resources we have are right to the end of their string."

Even as arrests are made, dealers have figured out new ways to get drugs:

- They steal the narcotics from family members and friends.

• They doctor-shop. "They go to a doctor or their primary care provider and get a medication for pain," said state Rep. Anne Perry, D-Calais, who is also a nurse practitioner. "Then they can go

• to their dentist complaining of tooth pain. Then they can go to an emergency room and get something for pain."

- They alter or forge prescriptions. Last year, two women were arrested when a Waldo County pharmacy took some altered prescriptions away from them.

And there are always ways to turn a profit.

"They've been able to acquire a fairly substantial amount of money, according to what our intelligence sources have to say," said Riggs of the Washington County Sheriff's Department.

For example, he said, a dealer can go to a supplier in Canada and buy 60 80-milligram OxyContin pills at $60 per pill. The cost to the dealer: $3,600. "Now, you are going to sell those for $150 [each] or a total of $9,000" in Maine, he said.

Last year, he said, the Washington County Sheriff's Department arrested a man who was a runner. "The usual delivery price is $5 a pill," Riggs said. "He made $9,000 in three weeks' time. That's three grand a week delivering pills, and he wasn't even an addict. He was addicted to the money."

Indeed, money is so much a part of the problem, and a leaner economy and government budget cuts are likely to take a toll.

Sheriff Tibbetts said he has had to cut his two drug enforcement officers back to part time.

Calais Police Chief Michael Milburn said he has to keep a tight hold on his budget.

"It is frustrating for me as the chief of the department to know that we have information we could actively work on to develop a case, but to do that it creates overtime," Milburn said. "I have to take an officer out of the schedule to devote time to that. It's a budgetary problem."

Crandall noted that he has three agents to cover two of the state's largest counties.

So Washington County's war on suspected drug dealers seems to move in an endless cycle.

"It's kind of like we're Wiley Coyote and the sheepdog," said sheriff's Sgt. Michael Crabtree, referring to the classic Warner Bros. cartoon characters. "'Mornin', Ralph, mornin', Sam.' We chase each other around all day and then we go home at the end of the day and then start back again tomorrow."

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