The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency on Thursday announced the arrests of three men accused of trafficking drugs in downtown Bangor.
During an investigation over the past week, the MDEA said its agents saw three men handing out pieces of paper and conducting what they believed to be drug sales in a downtown park that the agency did not identify.
The drug enforcement agents later learned that the pieces of paper contained a phone number used for drug sales. An undercover agent used the number to arrange to buy crack from one of the men, Diany Garcia, 28, of Patterson, New Jersey, who was arrested shortly after the sale, the MDEA said.
Agents determined that Garcia and two other suspects were operating out of a local hotel and got a search warrant for their room, where they seized 18 grams of crack, 3 grams of cocaine and more than $1,000 in suspected drug proceeds, the MDEA said.
Agents detained two additional suspects, Arismendi Acosta, 27, of Patterson, New Jersey, and Jeremy Rodriguez, 30, of Bronx, New York, outside the hotel room just before executing the search warrant and later arrested them.
Garcia is charged with Class B trafficking Schedule W drugs.
Acosta is charged with Class A aggravated trafficking Schedule W drugs.
Rodriguez is charged with Class A aggravated trafficking Schedule W drugs.
Both Acosta and Rodriguez have prior drug convictions that contributed to the aggravated charges, according to the MDEA. The agency said additional charges may be forthcoming as the investigation continues.
