BANGOR, Maine — A federal judge sentenced a Rockland woman Friday to five years in prison in connection with her brother’s death five years ago.
U.S. District Judge John Woodcock sentenced Rochelle Kenney, 51, to nearly twice the recommended sentence at the high end of the federal sentencing guidelines.
Kenney pleaded guilty on June 9 to health care fraud and distribution of methadone. She admitted giving her brother John Kenney, 43, of Rockland some of her take-home dose of liquid methadone on April 26, 2005, which is the day he died.
In addition to prison time, Woodcock sentenced Kenney to three years of supervised release after she completes her prison term. He also ordered her to pay nearly $161 in restitution to MaineCare for the methadone dose she shared.
Kenney admitted to U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services to selling drugs to other relatives and friends in the Rockland area for nearly three years.
“Although I’m not sure that your drug dealing killed your brother, I am sure your drug dealing is killing your community,” Woodcock told Kenney when he imposed the sentence Friday. “You distributed so much poison to so many people who had hopes and dreams for themselves and their children. With each dose, those hopes and dreams failed, and the lives and hopes of the children of Rockland failed with them.”
The judge said he imposed a five-year sentence to send a strong message to the community that similar behavior would not be tolerated. He also urged the defendant to make up for the harm she had inflicted on her family and hometown.
“It seems to me you have an obligation once you get out to try to undo the damage you’ve done,” he told Kenney. “It seems to me you should spend the rest of your days trying to heal the harm your conduct has caused.”
Under the federal sentencing guidelines, the recommended sentence was between two years three months and two years nine months.
Woodcock said the sentence did not reflect the severity of Kenney’s crime. He asked the federal prosecutor and defense attorney for their recommendations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Casey asked Woodcock to impose a five-year sentence. Kenney’s attorney, David Bate of Bangor, said a sentence in the three-to-four-year range would be adequate.
“A sentence above the guideline range is extremely rare in this [state],” Bate said after the sentencing. “I think the judge had to balance out a lot of very complex information, but I think the sentence is fair.”
In her plea agreement, Kenney waived the right to appeal her sentence if it was less than seven years.
On Friday, Kenney apologized for her crimes and asked Bate to read a prepared statement for her.
“I’m deeply sorry for the careless decisions I have made,” Bate read.
Last month, Woodcock found that the government had not met its burden “to prove that it was more likely than not” that John Kenney died as a result of the methadone his sister gave him.
If Woodcock had found the man died as a result of that methadone dose, Rochelle Kenney would have faced from 20 years to life in federal prison.
Expert witnesses disagreed over the cause of John Kenney’s death.
Maine’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Margaret Greenwald, testified that her office had concluded the methadone and diazepam found in John Kenney’s bloodstream had caused his death. She also testified that the autopsy report issued by her office noted the man’s heart was unusually large.
Dr. David Fowler, the chief medical examiner for the state of Maryland, testified for the defense that it was not possible to determine scientifically whether the man’s enlarged heart or the drugs caused his death. Fowler said that if he were forced to choose whether the drugs or the heart condition killed the fisherman, he would have to say it was the heart condition, “hypertrophic cardiovascular disease.”
John Kenney died six months after he and three crew mates survived the sinking of the 44-foot dragger Canadian Mist 30 miles southeast of Nantucket, Mass. The day he died, his sister shared with him the methadone and diazepam found in his system.
Later that day, he flew with others in a private plane from Rockland to Matinicus Island to go on a fishing trip. Shortly after they arrived on the island, he was found slumped over on a doorstep at the home of the person the group had come to visit, according to court documents.
Rochelle Kenney has been held without bail since pleading guilty last June to the charges. The time she has been incarcerated will be applied to her sentence.