ROCKLAND, Maine — Two men pleaded guilty Monday in Knox County Superior Court in separate drug cases.
Cameron Soto, 22, of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, was sentenced by Justice Daniel Billings to three years in prison for trafficking in crack cocaine in Rockland in December 2013.
And in a separate case, 69-year-old Joseph Dupaw of Dresden pleaded guilty to trafficking in oxycodone in February 2013. Sentencing is scheduled for January, but the agreed-upon sentence is seven years with all but 18 months suspended.
In the Soto case, Rockland police were called to the Trade Winds Motor Inn on the night of Dec. 28, 2013, for a report of two men fighting. One of the men was Soto. The other man told police he had confronted Soto for selling drugs to his sister.
Police ended up finding crack cocaine in Soto’s hotel room and other people present told officers that Soto had come up to sell the drug in the Rockland area. Soto had a prior drug conviction in 2012 in Massachusetts.
As part of the plea agreement, the reference to the prior drug conviction was dropped. If not, he would have faced a four-year minimum prison term.
Justice Billings said he accepted the plea agreement reached between Assistant Attorney General Katie Sibley and defense attorney Clifford Strike because of Soto’s young age.
Also on Monday, Billings accepted a guilty plea entered by Dupaw.
Dupaw was arrested in February 2013 after an undercover drug officer made a buy from a co-defendant of Dupaw in Lincoln County. Dupaw then arrived in Rockland and was boarding a ferry to Vinalhaven to sell oxycodone on the island, according to police. He was found with 200 pills on him.
He has been held in lieu of $100,000 bail since his arrest.
At the time of his initial court appearance on the charge more than 18 months ago, District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau said Dupaw fit the criteria of a career criminal as much anyone he’s ever seen. Dupaw has a criminal record dating back to 1965, including an armed robbery in 1975 in Vermont, a bank robbery in 1977 in Vermont and an armed robbery in Maine for which he also was convicted in federal court in 1998 for possession of a firearm by a felon.
Sibley is prosecuting the drug case. Dupaw is being represented by attorney Andrews Campbell.