ELLSWORTH, Maine — A New York man has been sentenced to serve three years in prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a local drug bust in February.
Melvin Lee Reynolds, 31, of New York City, originally was charged with unlawful trafficking in prescription drugs, specifically oxycodone, when he was arrested. On Nov. 29, Reynolds pleaded guilty in Hancock County Superior Court to charges of unlawful possession of oxycodone and criminal forfeiture in exchange for a dismissal of the trafficking charge, according to court documents.
As a result of the guilty plea, Reynolds received a straight three-year prison sentence with no probation, court records indicate. Information about what kind of criminal history Reynolds might have, which might shed light on why he was sentenced to three years in prison without probation, was not available Tuesday afternoon.
In the days after Reynold’s Feb. 29 arrest in Ellsworth, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency indicated that agents seized a handgun, shotgun, a small quantity of what appeared to be LSD and ecstasy, more than 180 oxycodone pills and $8,000 in cash from a Deane Street apartment where the bust occurred. The estimated street value of the drugs seized was $5,400, police said at the time.
The criminal forfeiture charge that Reynolds pleaded guilty to last week pertains to $7,203 that police say belonged to Reynolds and was either the proceeds from drug sales or intended to purchase more drugs, according to court records. Items or money used in illegal activity and seized by police in criminal cases that result in convictions often are transferred through the criminal forfeiture process to involved law enforcement agencies to help defray their expenses.
Reynolds’ wife, who lives in New York City, has filed a claim in Hancock County Superior Court indicating that she believes $6,000 of the forfeited money was hers. She had received the money in the form of a 2011 federal income tax refund, she wrote in a court form.
A hearing is expected to be held in Hancock County Superior Court to consider Reynolds’ wife’s claim but has been scheduled yet, according to the court clerk’s office. A final disposition for the seized funds will not be decided until a judge renders a decision on the New York woman’s claim.
Follow BDN reporter Bill Trotter on Twitter at @billtrotter.
“Reynolds’ wife, who lives in New York City, has filed a claim in Hancock County Superior Court indicating that she believes $6,000 of the forfeited money was hers.”…LOL, oh sure, and she has a bridge for sale too. Maybe she needs to spend some time in jail too!
If he was white he wouldn’t have received 3 years.
if he was white he woulda got the same amount of time….I was thinking he shoulda stayed in New York. We have enough of our own trash here and he can probably do 3 years in Maine’s jail system with ease. Why do you have to make it about color? Are you that insecure about who you are really? And just so you understand I don’t think there should be deals for pill pushers. He should be doing a lot more!
Did you see the charges, 2 guns, various drugs, money… Color has no role here. Being a drug dealing scumbag does. I think he was lucky he only got 3 years and he must feel that way to as he plead down to 3!
In New York City how would a drug conviction with two weapons worked out for him?
The money is mine.
I won it in a card game.
He was going to pay me but a misunderstanding occurred first.
and what did the jordan guy get?
Well, let’s see. “That Jordon guy” didn’t have “a handgun, shotgun, a small quantity of what appeared to be LSD , ecstasy, more than 180 oxycodone pills , $8,000 in cash and a New York address with an Interstate Trafficking charge hanging over his head.
What were you asking again?.
well he was still involved with drugs, was his vehicle seized? Mr Jordan only had 87 30mg pills and 4500 in cash. so yeah i guess he had better representation. sorry
I heard Jordan was nor apprehended in his own truck, someone told me he was actually in a Demo from a car dealer.
and Pat Jordan did not have a prior criminal record which I “assume” this man does.
Keep your trash in NYC.
when he gets out, ship him back to NY
His real crime was not being black, but that he was a criminal with the wrong genitalia in prosecutor Mary Kellett’s and Carletta Bassano’s district. Had he been a woman, he would be given a second and even third chance no matter what he did…just like this woman:
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/12/03/news/hancock/mdi-woman-gets-24-days-for-hitting-girl-in-bucksport-with-car/
And this woman:
http://www.fenceviewer.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40484:COA%20Burglar%20Pleads%20Guilty&catid=904:cops&Itemid=88
And numerous other women who didn’t get any real punishment and sometimes not even get charged for crimes as serious as manslaughter and child molestation.
This man apparently engaged in very serious crimes, but the point is, had he been a woman engaged in the same crimes he would not see 3 years in prison because women are treated differently. What ever happened to feminist’s calls for equality in such situations?