Guilty Plea to Heroin, Crack & Fentanyl Trafficking Conspiracy
A 39-year-old man pleaded guilty “to conspiracy to distribute in excess of a kilogram of heroin, more than 280 grams of crack, and fentanyl."
Darrell Newton faces between 20 years and life in prison, a $20,000,000 fine, and between 10 years and life on supervised release.
The U.S. Probation Office will complete a presentence investigation. Newton will be sentenced after the report is made.
According to court records:
Between June 2015 and March 2017, Newton ran a drug trafficking organization that obtained heroin, crack and fentanyl in Rochester and distributed the drugs in Central Maine. Rochester conspirators were recruited and sent to Central Maine by the defendant to sell the drugs. Those conspirators stayed with Central Maine residents who, in exchange for crack and heroin, allowed the drugs to be sold from their residences and assisted in distributing, storing and transporting the drugs."
The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Department, with assistance provided by the Augusta Police Department, and prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s Strategy to Combat the Opioid Epidemic.