ROCKLAND, Maine — Police say they have seized more than $100,000 and a pickup truck from a 25-year-old Rockland man accused of being a major supplier of oxycodone to the region over the last three years.
An affidavit filed by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency in Rockland District Court states that Ashley J. Hunt was spending his drug proceeds to support a lavish lifestyle. Hunt was arrested on Jan. 23 and charged with trafficking in oxycodone. He has since been released on bail and is scheduled to make his initial court appearance in March.
The investigation began when an informant told MDEA that Hunt had been supplying oxycodone in the Rockland area for three years. Surveillance of Hunt led to a suspected drug deal being made on the Rockland waterfront. MDEA agents followed the driver of the vehicle that Hunt was suspected of selling drugs to and stopped him in Thomaston.
The man allegedly admitted he had bought oxycodone from Hunt. Police then stopped Hunt in a parking lot in Thomaston. Hunt admitted he had sold the drugs and that he had been selling them for three years, according to the affidavit. He said he had made $100,000 over the past three years and had purchased a Toyota Tacoma truck, a motorcycle and a snowmobile with the proceeds, according to the affidavit.
The MDEA obtained a search warrant and allegedly found $20,000 in cash, a bank check for $52,286, and 57 $100 U.S. savings bonds, as well as coins and jewelry in a safety deposit box Hunt rented at Camden National Bank. Another bank check in the amount of $46,300 also was allegedly found on Hunt.
A search of his residence on Park Street led to the seizure of several loaded handguns, according to the affidavit. Hunt’s truck also was seized by police for allegedly being used in a drug transaction, according to the MDEA.
Hunt told agents his supplier was a man from New York, according to the MDEA.
MDEA Special Agent Supervisor for the Midcoast Region James Pease said police are seeing an increase in drugs being funneled into Maine from New York and Connecticut.