PORTLAND, Maine — Four additional defendants pleaded guilty this week and two are scheduled to plead guilty today in U.S. District Court to being part of a drug conspiracy that funneled cocaine and other drugs from Costa Rica through Florida to Maine between January 2002 and November 2005.
That leaves just one of the 18 defendants linked to the drug ring who will go to trial. Lisa Delaurentiis, 43, of Jupiter, Fla., also known as Lisa Fitzpatrick and as Lisa Nylund, is scheduled to be tried in U.S. District Court in Bangor beginning Aug. 11.
Troy Littlefield, 42, of Oakfield and Brent “Cowboy” Noyes, 57, of Lincoln are scheduled to plead guilty today to conspiracy to possess with the intention to distribute controlled substances. Both most likely will be held without bail until they are sentenced.
Nancy Squegilia, 51, of East Millinocket; Richard “Rat” Russell, 48, of Lincoln; Jeffrey Whitehead, 54, of Enfield; and Kenneth Kaczmarski, 43, of Jupiter, Fla., pleaded guilty to the same charge earlier this week. In addition, Whitehead pleaded guilty to Social Security fraud. All four were ordered held without bail pending their sentencing.
Every defendant who has pleaded guilty in the case has entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors. All have waived their right to appeal the case to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as long as the sentence is not longer than a specific number of months.
Defendants involved in the conspiracy will be ordered to forfeit the money, estimated to total $2.64 million, earned from selling the drugs. Each defendant convicted in the case is expected to be ordered to pay a portion of that amount, according to court documents.
The man charged with being the mastermind behind the scheme to distribute more than 10 pounds of cocaine and oxycodone pills in northern Maine pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.
Michael Mayer, 55, of Jupiter, Fla., and Costa Rica lived a lavish lifestyle fueled by cash, according to prosecutors. Between January 2002 and June 2005, Mayer supplied large quantities of cocaine and diverted oxycodone, a powerful painkiller, to midlevel and street-level dealers in Maine, according to a press release issued last month by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland.
Mayer sometimes had his co-conspirators transport the drugs from Florida to Maine and at other times did it himself, according to the press release. He would meet with area distributors, mainly from the Lincoln-Lee area, to collect the proceeds from the drug sales.
After an alleged dispute over money between Mayer and his buyers in Maine, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Casey said last year, members of the drug ring obtained cocaine from June 2005 through November 2005 from Laurent “Larry” Provost, 60, of Woonsocket, R.I., who then was living in Mansfield, Mass. The relationship between the Maine buyers and Provost ended after less than six months in a disagreement over money and the quality of the drugs, according to court documents.
The group then turned to two people from the Dominican Republic who were operating out of Lawrence, Mass. Prosecutors have not named them. They were arrested in New Hampshire on unrelated drug charges in January 2006 and are serving federal prison terms, Casey has said. Where the ring obtained drugs after that has not been made public.
Mayer and Provost were indicted in November 2007 along with more than a dozen others. Mayer was arrested in Costa Rica sometime after that and extradited to Maine in October 2008.
Provost has pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges and Social Security fraud.
The other defendants in the case all have pleaded guilty and are being held without bail pending sentencing. They are:
• Jeffrey Polk, 36, of Alaska.
• Daniel “Danny” Littlefield, 49, of Lee.
• Robert Donath, 28, of Lincoln.
• Peter Glidden, 31, of Smithfield.
• Mark “Goober” Russell, 41, of Lincoln.
• Donald “Donny” Russell, 50, of Lincoln.
• Preston Chubbuck, 43, of Springfield.
• Raymond Davis, 48, of Lincoln and Jupiter, Fla.
• Jeffrey “Bow Neck” Edwards, 42, of Bradenton and Islamorada, Fla.
Mayer, Donath and Edwards are scheduled to be sentenced in September in Portland. Sentencing dates for the others have not been set.
The Russells are brothers. The Littlefields are not related, according to prosecutors.
Mark Russell and Whitehead are serving sentences out of state on unrelated charges.
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