ELLSWORTH, Maine — A Blue Hill man arrested three times in the past year on drug trafficking charges has been accepted into drug treatment court and will not have to spend any more time behind bars if he stays out of trouble.
But if Kenneth W. Gray, 28, gets in trouble and flunks out of drug court, he could face a possible sentence of 10 years in prison.
Gray was arrested twice last winter — in Bucksport in December and again the next month in Deer Isle — on charges of trafficking in drugs. On both occasions, he was on probation after having pleaded guilty to a previous charge of possession of illegal drugs in Waldo County, according to court documents filed in Hancock County Unified Criminal Court.
At the time of Gray’s arrest in January, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency indicated that agents stopped a vehicle in Deer Isle in which Gray was riding and found three “fingers” of heroin with a total weight of slightly more than 30 grams, which is estimated to have a street value of about $10,000.
On Friday, May 6, Gray pleaded guilty in Hancock County to two counts of unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs stemming from his arrests in Bucksport and Deer Isle. As part of a deal with prosecutors, he also was accepted into drug court.
Gray received an overall sentence of five years behind bars, all of it suspended except for the time he has spent in jail since his January arrest. He also has to serve three years probation, pay $300 in restitution to the MDEA, pay an additional $800 in fines and forfeit $4,160 in drug proceeds. He is prohibited from possessing or using alcohol or drugs, must submit to random searches and testing for alcohol and drugs, and must receive substance abuse counseling.
That will be his sentence if he can maintain the rigors of drug court, which requires that he regularly appear before a judge and other officials to have his progress assessed.
According to Gray’s defense attorney, Jeffrey Toothaker of Ellsworth, defendants that successfully stay off drugs while in drug court typically “graduate” from drug court after about 15 months.
If Gray cannot stay out of trouble and flunks out of drug court, he could be sentenced to serve up to 10 years in prison on each of the two charges of unlawful trafficking in drugs, court documents indicate.
