LINCOLN, Maine — A man convicted in 2002 of operating a methamphetamine laboratory in his West Broadway home and business faces new drug trafficking charges after police stopped him for speeding late last week and found slightly more than $10,000 worth of cocaine, bath salts and other drugs in his car and home, Police Chief William Lawrence said Tuesday.
Joseph Mansur, 55, of Lincoln was charged late Friday with four counts of aggravated furnishing of drugs, including hallucinogenic drugs (bath salts) and schedule W, Y and Z drugs; unlawful possession of an unscheduled drug, methamphetamine; and unlawful possession of cocaine.
Police are consulting with the Bangor District Attorney’s Office to see whether further charges are necessary, Lawrence said.
Mansur’s case is the third since mid-September in which town police have seized more than $5,000 in illegal drugs and the second since then in which investigators found a ledger listing drug customers, Lawrence said.
Mansur’s arrest occurred after Sgt. Glenn Graef stopped his car on River Road for traveling 55 mph in a 40-mph zone, Lawrence said.
Graef, who knew Mansur previously had been sentenced to two years in prison for operating a meth laboratory at his home and business, ABC Glass Co. on West Broadway, verified the speed by driving closely behind Mansur, Lawrence said.
Mansur, who reportedly appeared to be intoxicated and admitted to having taken bath salts, allowed Graef to search the vehicle. He was taken to Penobscot County Jail after Graef found a small amount of oxycodone pills and marijuana in the car, Lawrence said.
Graef also found 60 grams of cocaine and other drugs that he said Mansur tried to hide in the back seat of the police cruiser, Lawrence said.
Thinking he might find more drugs in Mansur’s home near the Region II vocational-technical school in Lincoln, Graef got a judge’s permission to search the house. He and Officers Jacob Ferland, Jeffrey Rice and John Walsh found 5.3 ounces of marijuana, 4.1 grams of illegal narcotics fashioned from mushrooms, 30 milligrams of Ritalin, 17.1 grams of bath salts, methamphetamine and more than $884 in cash, Lawrence said.
Mansur was sentenced to a suspended six-year prison sentence and served two years in prison and four years of probation in April 2002 after Maine and federal drug enforcement agents raided his home in March 2001 and found evidence of a methamphetamine manufacturing operation. His business closed as a result.
Lawrence declined to discuss the ledger they found at Mansur’s home that police believe details drug transactions.
They also reported finding a ledger during an arrest on Oct. 4. In that case, a Connecticut man was charged with drug trafficking after he called 911 to report people trying to break into his apartment at 26 Lee Road. He admitted to being high on drugs at the time, police said.
Police said they found 200 small packets of heroin packaged for street sale, 121 oxycodone pills, cocaine, crack cocaine, 11 hypodermic needles and $590 in cash — items worth about $7,000 — during a court-approved search of the apartment.
Police do not believe the cases are connected.
Investigators said they found more than $5,000 in bath salts when they served a search warrant on an Enfield Road home, arresting two drug trafficking suspects, in mid-September.
Mansur posted a cash bail and is due in Lincoln District Court on Nov. 9, Lawrence said.