BANGOR, Maine — A New York City man was sentenced Thursday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to nine years in prison for drug trafficking.
Juan Rivera, 40, was sentenced after pleading guilty to aggravated trafficking in schedule W drugs, a Class A crime, according to Assistant Attorney General Patrick Larson, who prosecuted the case.
Rivera was arrested Sept. 4 after agents with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency received a tip about a man selling heroin out of a Bangor motel room, according to a previously published report.
In addition to prison time, Rivera was ordered to pay a $400 fine and forfeit more than $10,000 in cash seized when his room was searched, Larson said.
Also seized from Rivera’s motel room were 40 grams heroin and an ounce of crack cocaine, Peter Arno of the MDEA said last year. Arno estimated the street value of the drugs at $25,000.
The trafficking charge was a Class A crime because Rivera had four prior felony drug convictions in New York and because of the weight of the drugs he possessed, Larson said Thursday.
Rivera faced up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.
He had been held at the Penobscot County Jail since Sept. 4. That time will be credited toward his sentence.