A former Rangeley man who shot and killed a burglar in July 2016 was sentenced Monday in federal court in Bangor to 13 years and four months in prison on drug and gun charges.
Jordan Richard, 25, of New Vineyard pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and oxycodone, and discharging a firearm in relation to that conspiracy, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Between January 2016 and September 2017, the defendant and others conspired to distribute the drugs in Franklin County, according to court documents. By pleading guilty, Richard admitted he supplied drugs to others from his residence in Rangeley and later, from his residence in New Sharon.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen sentenced Richard to three years and four months on the drug charge and the mandatory minimum consecutive sentence of 10 years on the gun charge.
On July 28, 2016, Richard shot and killed one of two men who came to his Rangeley residence to rob him, the U.S. attorney’s office said Monday in a statement. The second man fled and was captured by federal agents. Investigators responding to the robbery seized from the Rangeley house a large quantity of cocaine, $20,883 in cash, drug scales, drug packaging materials, cellphones, drug ledgers and a Beretta 9mm semi-automatic handgun used in the shooting.
The state declined to prosecute Richard in connection with the man he killed during the burglary, according to court documents.
Richard’s attorney, Leonard Sharon of Lewiston, said that his client acted in self-defense during the robbery.
“Jordan was forced to take a man’s life when two men entered his home to rob him,” Sharon said after the sentencing. “Jordan was beaten within an inch of his life and only as a last resort used a firearm for self-defense. The court found that the weapon was used in self-defense.”
Despite Sharon’s argument that the judge should not impose the mandatory minimum sentence, she did.
Maine U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank said the case showed how violent drug dealing could be even in rural Maine.
“This case demonstrates that drug dealing is a violent, criminal business,” he said. “One man is dead. Another is going to spend over a decade in prison. We intend to do everything we can to get guns out of the hands of drug dealers.”
In addition to prison time, U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen sentenced Richard to three years of supervised release.
He faced between 10 years and life in prison on the gun charge and up to 20 years in prison on the drug charge.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Casey recommended a sentence of 16 ½ years in prison. Sharon recommended Richard serve a total of nine years.
Richard had been held without bail since his arrest in September 2017. That time will be applied to his sentence.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Maine State Police; and the Rangeley Police Department investigated the case with assistance from the Maine attorney general’s office.
This case was investigated and prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s Strategy to Combat the Opioid Epidemic.