ROCKLAND, Maine — A 25-year-old Rockland man who police said was a major supplier of oxycodone to the midcoast area will be serving 30 days in jail. He also had to forfeit $136,000 and a truck that were seized by agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Ashley J. Hunt pleaded guilty Wednesday in Knox County Superior Court to one count of trafficking in oxycodone. Justice Daniel Billings sentenced Hunt to four years in jail with all but 30 days suspended. Hunt also was fined $400 and will be placed on probation for two years when released from jail.
The judge agreed to allow Hunt to begin serving the 30-day jail term on Sept. 25 to accommodate his employment.
The defendant agreed to forfeit $136,000 seized by police after his arrest. Two loaded handguns confiscated by police at his residence in Rockland as well as a 2012 Toyota Tacoma that he was driving when he made a drug deal also were forfeited to the state.
Hunt was arrested Jan. 23 and has been free on bail while awaiting the handling of his case in court.
An affidavit filed in court at the time of his arrest by the MDEA stated that Hunt was spending his drug proceeds to support a lavish lifestyle.
The investigation began when an informant told MDEA agents that Hunt had been supplying oxycodone in the Rockland area for three years. Surveillance of Hunt led agents to a drug deal being made on the Rockland waterfront. MDEA agents followed the driver of the vehicle that Hunt sold drugs to and stopped him in Thomaston.
The man 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 reported finding $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 found on Hunt, according to the affidavit.
A search of his residence on Park Street led to the seizure of the loaded handguns, according to the affidavit.
Hunt told agents his supplier was a man from New York, according to the MDEA.
When asked about the sentencing agreement and the relatively short length of the jail term, Attorney General spokesman Timothy Feeley said Friday that the result speaks for itself.