PORTLAND, Maine — A local man was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court to three years in federal prison for his role in a crack cocaine distribution ring, accord to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Samuel Collins, 47, of Portland also was sentenced to three years of supervised release.
He pleaded guilty earlier this year to being part of a drug conspiracy between December 2013 and January 2015 to sell crack cocaine in Portland, the U.S. attorney’s office said Friday in a press release.
“Members of the conspiracy would arrange for the acquisition of drugs out of state,” the release said. “Once the drugs were transported to Maine, they were provided to retail distributors who would sell the drugs in the Portland area.”
As a part of the investigation, law enforcement officers working undercover conducted controlled purchases of crack cocaine from Collins, according to the release. Five people in addition to Collins were indicted by a federal grand jury earlier this year. All have pleaded guilty to charges in connection with conspiracy. Two have been sentenced.
Marco Gordon, 34, of Detroit, Michigan, was sentenced last month to 11 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. He is incarcerated at the Berlin Federal Correctional Institute in Berlin, New Hampshire, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ inmate locator website.
Robert Joiner Jr., 30, of Inkster, Michigan, was sentenced in October to three years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. He is incarcerated at Morgantown Federal Correctional Institute in Morgantown, West Virginia, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ inmate locator website.
Two others members of the drug conspiracy, ringleader Russell Gordon, 31, of Ansonia, Connecticut, and Katie McNeilly, 36, of Portland remain jailed awaiting sentencing, according to court documents.
This case was investigated by the Southern Maine Gang Task Force, which is composed of investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Portland, South Portland, Biddeford and Lewiston police departments, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.