HUDSON, Maine — The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, aided by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, seized a large amount of bath salts — with a street value of $190,000 — and arrested three people on felony drug trafficking charges after raids Wednesday night, an MDEA spokesman said Thursday.
MDEA agents raided two homes in Hudson and Bangor, searched a Newburgh storage locker and found $2,800 in cash buried behind a cemetery in Hudson, Darrell Crandall, MDEA division commander for northern Maine, announced in a press release.
Ryan Orton, 27, and his girlfriend, Alyssa Farrington, 20, both of Hudson, were arrested Wednesday night and Kristy Harris, 29, of Bangor was arrested Thursday morning. All face felony drug trafficking charges as a result of what drug agents found.
The charges against Orton, who was convicted of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs in December 2010, and Harris, who was caught with 316 oxycodone pills, were elevated to aggravated offenses, according to Crandall.
“MDEA agents, joined by a number of area law enforcement agencies, have disrupted an organization responsible for importing and distributing large quantities of MDPV, an illegal synthetic hallucinogen commonly referred to as ‘bath salts,’” Crandall said. “This group is accused of selling other drugs as well.”
Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Maine State Police, the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office and the Bangor Police Department all assisted in the investigation, Crandall said.
He said the multiagency investigation began when Bangor police officials contacted the MDEA in the fall of 2011 saying they suspected Orton may be selling drugs.
“In the following months MDEA agents were able to purchase different types of drugs, including MDPV, from Orton,” Crandall said. “Agents did surveillance to learn Orton’s routines, identified his associates and determined the MDPV was being illegally imported from China.”
Agents staked out Orton’s Hudson home on Route 43 for two days waiting for him to leave.
“On Wednesday afternoon, he left in his 2004 Dodge truck, and he was stopped and taken into custody without incident,” Crandall said. “About 2.5 ounces of MDPV was seized from his vehicle at that time and the vehicle was seized.”
Orton’s home then was searched and agents found about 12 ounces of MDPV, more than a pound of marijuana, several semiautomatic assault rifles, two semiautomatic handguns, a 12-gauge shotgun, several hundred rounds of ammunition, stun guns, night vision equipment and military-grade ballistic body armor, the MDEA commander said.
Agents then executed a second warrant at a storage locker in Newburgh leased to Orton’s girlfriend. Agents seized approximately 4 pounds of bath salts in the locker, more than 9 pounds of another substance that is yet to be identified, and more than 7 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms. The psilocybin is valued at $34,000, Crandall said.
Agents then went to the cemetery in Hudson and dug up the cash buried there, he said.
At $80 a gram, the seized bath salts in the case have a street value of $190,000, according to Crandall.
Agents also raided Harris’ home on Deer Isle Road in Bangor and seized 316 diverted oxycodone pills, with a street value of $9,480, and $3,100 in cash.
The oxycodone has a retail street value of $9,480, Crandall said.
“MDEA agents, following our Drug Endangered Children protocols, called DHHS Child Protective Services to this residence early Thursday morning to make arrangements for the well-being of four small children,” Crandall said.
Orton, Farrington and Harris all were taken to the Penobscot County Jail in Bangor.
Orton faces five charges — aggravated trafficking in synthetic hallucinogenic drugs, aggravated furnishing in synthetic hallucinogenic drugs, aggravated trafficking in marijuana, aggravated trafficking in psilocybin and prohibited possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Farrington was charged with trafficking in synthetic hallucinogenic drugs, furnishing synthetic hallucinogenic drugs, trafficking in marijuana and trafficking in psilocybin.
Harris was charged with aggravated trafficking in oxycodone.
Initial court appearances for the trio are scheduled for May 23. Orton’s bail is set at $50,000 cash, Farrington’s at $750 cash and Harris’ at $15,000 cash, Crandall said.
More arrests are likely, he said.
“There is still a lot of work to do, and we will get it done,” Crandall said.
Thank you MDEA. Our children are safer everytime you make big busts like this sending the message to the scumbags that this area will not tolerate this activity.
Please stop praising this ineffective big government “war on drugs”
or thinking that it is accomplishing anything.
“Bangor police officials contacted the MDEA in the fall of 2011 saying they suspected Orton may be selling drugs and the multiagency investigation began.”
A year and a half ?!?
My goodness, that covered the time during which dust monkeys were running amok all over Bangor, doesn’t it ?
How much time and money did this cost the State of Maine ?
BUT THANK YOU, Bushfan for showing us all how addle minded you knee jerk, partisan conservatives are about what you think is success in all the “wars” that your “moral majority”, “christian” values, less big government big talkers REALLY know about tactics and what’s a victory for America.
Do you know how ong it takes to build a case on these guys? You can’t go at it on a wim. The MDEA has actually been a really effective branch on the drug traffiking.
Apparently not if the thought is that from the fall of 2011 into the spring of 2012 involves a year and a half…..
agreed, bath salts have been more infrequently reported as a problem because they are, thanks to the MDEA!
?? “the fall of 2011″…..this is just beginning of the spring of 2012, and I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but that would be approx. 5 to 6 months ago depending on the exact dates, not the “year and a half” as you claim…..I would echo Bushfan’s accolades to the agencies involved…..my goodness…..
Agree and well said. Also well said to Bushfan.
DISQUSBITES sounds a little angry….must have been his dealer
Did I miss a year somewhere???
LOL!!
Granted, the war on drugs is a dead end road but really – should we just stop drug busts and legalize drugs once and for all? Really?
What would you propose to do about those who will NEVER and I repeat NEVER be rehabilitated no matter what we do? If we were to legalize drugs, would they suddenly stop and say “Hey! I think I’ll stop shooting poison up now that it’s legal!”
I’m a fairly liberal ( and agnostic btw) person who sees this stuff each and ever day. People who are hard-core abusers (enough to ram an infected needle in their already nearly-blown veins to get high) will not get better unless they:
A. hit rock bottom and seek help or
B. are forced into seeking help due to no supply.
These are people who don’t think…at all…of anything but how they’re going to get their next fix. They are sick and they need help. They also need people who hawk this product to be locked up and put away (preferably for good).
Drug dealers are nothing but greedy vultures picking carcasses to me. Good riddance. Throw away the key.
The only way to truly get someone to really get serious about getting off that crap is to let them hit rock bottom (not continue to stop them 1 inch from rock bottom) and to remove their supply of drugs.
Reality hurts – a lot. The only other choice for a person who is miserably hooked to drugs is:
C. death
Thanks (often to sleazy) legal defense practices, any minor infraction in an investigation can lead to dealers being let go to start up carcass picking again. Small wonder it takes so long to get enough to prosecute them.
Option C is fine by me.
We are all tought in school not to do drugs.
If you make a bad choice, you suffer the consequences.
If you choose to drink and drive, you could kill some one, your self or get DUI? Your choice.
If you choose to do pills, you could be in a comma, you could get DUI, or rob your grandma? your choice.
If you choose to jump in the fire, you could get burnt.
DONT DO IT!!
They would be dying by there choice!
Sorry, just my ignorant opinion!
Yes we are all taught not to do drugs.It’s pretty easy to sit back and just say “Don’t do it!”
It’s quite another story to practically apply that idea.
Just my observation.
That’s exactly the point of legalization. These people are going to use no matter what. If legal it can be regulated and taxed. No more bums selling drugs to make a living.
So we legalize it. How will the “bums” pay for it?
If they can’t pay for it, who will – the Magical Pharmaceutical Corporation who just *poofs* them out of the sky for nothing?
How do they pay for it now? Can’t get any worse can it? If taxed and regulated the price would drop and taxes would pay for rehabilitation. You already admitted the war on drugs is a dead end road. What is your solution?
War is war. War is always a dead-end road because sooner or later, we end up back in war over something else. All the term “War on Drugs” does is make someone feel like there’s a battle to ‘win’ and that someone is going to save us all. Meanwhile, back on Reality Drive, there are people who are so stoned that they scarcely care about breathing much less anything else.
If taxed and regulated, the state will use it to patch holes in the general budget. Let’s face it. That’s what they do.
A good example is the state’s love/hate affair with tobacco. If all of the cigarette smokers quit smoking tomorrow, this state would dry up and blow away. Such hypocrisy our nanny state has. Keep raising the taxes on them and sure, everyone will quit and we’ll all save so much money because they won’t be costing us healthcare dollars.
As I posted before, I would lock hard-core addicts up until they’re dried out (if that’s even possible in some cases) and I’d throw dealers in jail. Enabling bad behavior does nothing but perpetuate bad behavior.
Likewise, since a good number of drug abusers are self-medicating mental patients, how about we open up a few more beds at DDPC instead of closing more down?
There is a major dearth of mental health beds in this state. People really need to wake up to this fact – and soon.
You should tell ATF that illegal sales of a product will end if they become legal.
Good point but with the demise of the DEA the ATF can add a D their name.
The DEA would probably still be around since not all drug would become legal. My point was more geared to the “bums” selling drugs. Even if a drug was legal, “bums” would still sell it illegally.
I hear you, so for long should they go to Gladiator School, then, exactly ?
I am not saying I know what works.
Just that it is clear that this does not.
So Sassy, are you really defending what clearly is not working, just because
I don’t have better answers to what clearly does not work , but which must not be questioned ?
No, I’m not defending anything. I am saying, however, that we can’t simply legalize drugs and dropkick the MDEA altogether. Many of the most sought-after drugs for dealers are actually legal. I remain convince that Big Pharma is the mother of all drug pushers.
I think addicts need to be locked up until dried out, and that those who are intent on making obscene amounts of money by providing poison which causes more pain and misery to families than anything else should be made examples of. No more pussy-footing around. We are doing nothing but enabling both the addicts and the dealers.
Lock dealers up and throw away the key. I will guarantee you that jailing them won’t cost half what their badly addled drug addicted “clients” costs society in the long run.
Guarantee.
We have two legal, government sanctioned drugs in our society, TOBACCO and ALCOHOL, that kill FAR more people every year than all illegal and prescription drugs combined. In contrast, many more people involved with currently illegal drugs have died from the effects of prohibition than will ever die from the drugs themselves. A DEA no-knock raid gone wrong is infinitely more lethal than cannabis, which has never claimed a human life since man began to use it millenia ago.
Plus, most of the time you hear about people dying from drug use (it’s really not as often as the propagandists would have you believe), it’s due to overdoses – which are in turn a result of prohibition (substances manufactured on the black market have no quality control, resulting in menaces like “black tar” heroin.) This has a direct correlation to Alcohol Prohibition, where improper processing of alcohol led to the inclusion of poisonous methyl alcohol, leading to blindness and death.
And, I agree that drug dealers are thieving vultures, but then again, prohibition makes the drugs artificially expensive, and has directly contributed to the creation of more concentrated drugs (crack cocaine, meth, heroin, etc.) The allure of fast, easy money outweighs morals in many cases – it happens in the world of legal activity as well.
I agree that hard-core addicts need help – MEDICAL help. Throwing them in jail isn’t the answer; it just makes the problem worse. Callously condemning them to death like cantspell below (an apt moniker – “comma”???!!!!) isn’t the answer. Many people turn to drugs as an “out” for the problems of life, realize they have made a mistake, and want to come clean – yet they keep using because they know if they seek help they’ll probably get sucked into the judicial/prison machine, turn into hardened criminals, and be very likely to re-offend.
It’s time to END this insane war on our own people. Legalize the less harmful stuff (cannabis, psychedelics, etc.), allow controlled access to hard drugs (including clean needles, etc. so as not to spread AIDS), and by all means rehabilitate those who realize they have a problem.
If your arm itches, do you rub in some soothing salve, or blast it with a blowtorch? The drug war is analogous to the blowtorch.
No.. I disagree with you…Bushfan has it right.
when you say “THANK YOU, Bushfan for showing us all “…there is no “us all”. Its you.
Stand on your own comments without including a background of phantom supporters.
”
“THANK YOU, Bushfan for showing us all “…there is no “us all”.
That you can’t , don’t, won’t see all of us who disagree is a fundamental conservative problem.
Deal with it.
Or don’t… it is not my problem.
I understand your conservative agendas.
But once you hear what people who can not or will not compromise have to say,
what more is there to it. ?
Those sort deserve no place at the table.
Bush proved it nationally.
Look at what his policies did to National economy.
LePage is doing it locally.
But , sorry Charley, you have two years to produce, or you’ll voted out.
LePage is a wounded lame duck, when his vetoes are being overridden by his own party.
why are you so nasty? Go somewhere else with your nasty comments.
How much nastier am I that the conservative faithful ?
Like this ;
” lsumom 1 hour ago in reply to PabMainerDISQUSBITES sounds a little angry….must have been his dealer” I have not seen you scold them, so go fish, okay ?
so sorry that you believe the one and only way to handle this is to barge in guns blaring whenever a report comes in, instead they learned additional information, such as who else was involved, where they hide their money, etc.
Kids are safer yeah right i can go out tonight and find any drug you want, this is a small bust and every town in maine has a couple of these houses if not more. They will just send up more from mass if the demand is needed you will never stop this.
…or they will go to New Hampshire for their booze…..
That statement should gain you favor…..
I don’t really think that a guy with $190,000 in drugs is after your son’s lunch money.
Frankly, we lock one up and more come. The jails become overcrowded, the drug dealers are released early and the cycle continues. Meanwhile we the taxpayers share the brunt of the costs while the MDEA gets to seize money for a couple new rifle scopes.
As with most government propaganda, we believe that this helps society as a whole when in fact it only helps two small groups of people: The MDEA who get to seize assets, and the drug dealers who’s product goes up in demand, and thus price. All at the $ of the taxpayers.
this is good, but these people will be back on the street with nothing but a slap on the wrist!
May-be stronger gun laws would add some years to this paranoid nut’s sentence.
” Agents staked out Orton’s Hudson home on Route 43 for two days waiting for him to leave.
“On Wednesday afternoon, he left in his 2004 Dodge truck, and he was stopped and taken into custody without incident,” Crandall said. “About 2.5 ounces of MDPV was seized from his vehicle at that time and the vehicle was seized.”
Orton’s home then was searched and agents found about 12 ounces of MDPV, more than a pound of marijuana, several semiautomatic assault rifles, two semiautomatic handguns, a 12-gauge shotgun, several hundred rounds of ammunition, stun guns, night vision equipment and military-grade ballistic body armor, the MDEA commander said.”
He should be called a terrorist, or a narco-terrorist, at the very least, going about armed like that.
GOOD JOB!
You people have no idea how the drugs that you have made illegal, but still can’t control at the source, damage peoples thinking, but then so your Allens and vodka.
Which kills more on the highway or plays a bigger part in domestic abuse ?
what on earth does LePage have to do with this article? The MDEA were here long before Lepage and will still be here after LePage is gone next term!
What is up with people and bath salts? Why don’t you just go drink some ammonia and bleach too?
Keep up the great work MDEA…..You guys have really been on the ball and making a dent in this garbage lately…..Kudos to you for the work you do, It’s appreciated, removing this crap and the scumbags that deal off the streets…..Come to Ellsworth, I can fill you in on some names if need them….great job!
wow she’s young :(
Young, yes. An accomplice, most likely. The bail, 750bucks cash! Is that a misprint, or is this a case of the guy is a drug dealer, but his girlfriend can’t possibly be as guilty? Maybe she turned state’s evidence.
”
The charges against Orton, who was convicted of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs in December 2010,”
The law enforcement end seems to be doing a great job , now if they would only give them some serious time! These guys always seem to get a slap on the wrist and then are right back out there doing their thing. ” 3 years with all but 30 days suspended” Give me a break!!!!
Oh, that is unbelievable, and it must be what confused me about long it took for the LEO heroes to really get him, huh ?
lol
“Bangor police officials contacted the MDEA in the fall of 2011 saying they suspected Orton may be selling drugs and the multiagency investigation began.”
Ahyup, it just took a year and half, for this Administration to get a suspected drug dealer.
In that time, what else happening in “the war on drugs” and on the streets, locally ?
Can’t anyone remember, all that ?
I guess the conservative right’s National big voter fraud concerns was where the State’s head LEP’s energy was going, huh ?
Who is really weak on , if not on crime, because the right wing faith based mythology says it is so different than the clear reality, then at the very least weak on timely indictments, arrests and convictions ?
Um, fall of 2011 was half a year ago, not a year and a half ago. Just thought I’d point that out.
Ummm, just off by a year there, disqusbites. Good try, though.
You need to brush up on your math skills. The earliest “fall of 2011” could be is September. September to today is 5-6 months, not the year and a half you claim.
About time the MDEA starts looking out in Hudson… GOOD WORK
YES! Great job!
Steppenwolf had it right: “God da*n the pusher man…..”
Nice job MDEA!
Lets not kid ourselves that this is anything but a tiny setback for a sky rocketing growth industry. Open for business, and how! This country and Maine in particular have lost the war on drugs. Rehabilitation services of any kind are absolute anathema to the most affected areas and populations. Read the papers, this double barreled Ostrich syndrome permeates the state.
They are creating jobs and (mostly, except for busts like this) avoiding government regulation!
Great work!
Quite fitting how they search house after house and only come away with 3K cash.
“Drugs? We don’t need more drugs!”
MDEA!!! Getting it done baby!
All of you talking about math haven’t realized that 12 ounces of bath salts does not equal $190,000 in cash. They meant 12 lbs. clearly.
If you read the article it was 12 oz seized at the house, 2.5 oz in the truck, and 4 lbs in the locker for a total of 4 lbs 14 1/2 oz. Their math is still off by $14,160 at the $80 per gram and roughly 28 grams per oz.
I just read the part under the picture. I should change my profile name to READABOUTITBEFOREIPOSTIT.
Nice to see all these police agencies in another county working with MDEA and the County Law Enforcement. Unfortunately, this county law enforcement will not, does not work with MDEA. Great job guys. And what the heck is the guy doing out on an aggravated trafficking charge. When are the judges AND prosecutors gonna get it. Stop giving these sweet deals just to avoid a trial. This isn’t a pot dealer….he is much worse then that. Put him away for 15-20 years.
I just saw the mug shots of these three upstanding young people, all under the age of 30, they all have that crazy-eyed, burnt crisp, used up look that heavy drug use gives them. What a mess they’ve made of their lives, stop it you idiots.
and armed to the teeth, too.
i dont know how they got 190,000. 4lbs and 14.5 ounces at 80 a gram is 175,840.
They get paid for making “war on drugs” by the volume seized,
at outrageously inflated “street value” but not by the length of convictions.
It is like with injun scalps or coyote ears.
MDEA is making a profit off these people.
How much was their legal cut, alone, in Federal Funding from back in 2010 when they busted him before, too ?
@ BDN Moderator– any particular reason your sensoring my comments???… you keep on deleting moderator, and i’ll keep reposting and reposting… what happened to the freedom of speech? how do you get off sensoring mine?!
Spelling , may-be ?
All of those well paid agents, big bust, must certainly be the end of drugs, right there. With all the agents. Must be the last we will see of those drugs. $190,000.00 worth of Bath Salt, worth $200.00 last year, good score. If you outlaw gas, you can charge us $100.00 a gallon. Just make it illegal, and the value will rise….
So what.They will all get large jail sentences that will all be suspended other then a handfull of days.
They need to start giving all the drugheads long term jail sentences instead of slapping them on the wrist.
A link to a presentation from the Down East Emergency Medicine institute on
Bath Salts. History, Effects, Clinical Presentation and Treatment. For Police,
Fire, EMS, Physicians and nurses. Informational and free to share with
others
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAc6j0df4pE
Doc Bowie
A big KUDOS to Mr. LePage, he must be really proud of his fine men and women for doing such a great job…Commanding such an elite group isnt an easy job..