Springvale man gets 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to drug trafficking
SPRINGVALE, Maine — A Springvale man is being sent to prison for trafficking in fentanyl.
U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby sentenced Richard Martin, 41, to 12 years in prison and four years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee announced on Thursday.
Martin pleaded guilty to the drug-related charge in July 2021.
According to court records, Martin was engaged in fentanyl trafficking in May 2020.
“On May 25, he was robbed of a substantial quantity of fentanyl that he intended to distribute to others,” McElwee said. “Following the robbery, Martin sent numerous Facebook messages acknowledging the robbery and threatening violence to the suspected perpetrators.”
Law enforcement recovered a portion of the stolen fentanyl on May 31, 2020, according to McElwee.
The FBI and the Rumford and Buxton police departments investigated the case with assistance from the York and Cumberland County Sheriff’s Offices, the Maine State Police, and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
The Martin case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States, using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Springvale man off to prison after pleading guilty to drug trafficking
