PORTLAND — David Aaskov’s battle with heroin began when he was a teenager, and it raged for more than a decade, until he was arrested this year and thrown into jail on federal drug trafficking charges.
By then, the 30-year-old Windham resident was selling hundreds of grams of heroin to other users to maintain his own habit.
Aaskov says he was so far gone that it was going to take his arrest or death to end his addiction.
“Jail was the only place I could have sobered up,” Aaskov told Judge George Singal during his sentencing hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Aaskov specifically mentioned the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who busted him.
“I want to thank Paul Buchanan and DEA for truly saving my life,” he said.
For his contrition, his guilty plea, his cooperation with investigators and his positive attitude in the months after the arrest, Aaskov earned a break on his sentence.
Under the advisory federal sentencing guidelines, Aaskov faced a likely sentence of five to 6½ years. Instead, Singal agreed with the prosecution’s request to reduce the sentence to four years and two months in prison, followed by five years of supervised probation.
Aaskov pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute. He admitted to obtaining more than 600 grams of heroin from Massachusetts-based dealers and reselling much of that in Maine.
Singal ordered Aaskov to participate in a 500-hour drug treatment program.
“If anyone needs a picture of what drugs can do to a person or a family, the picture has been painted quite clearly here,” Singal said after listening to the emotional statements by Aaskov and several of his family members.
“It’s pretty clear that this defendant would have continued to buy and sell drugs until caught or until he died, whichever came first,” Singal said. “My hope is that he will use this time in a federal institution productively. I want to make sure that he stops his addiction.”
Aaskov’s family said he was a hard-working, honest, caring and friendly man when he was sober, and he turned into a different person when he was using heroin or prescription painkillers.
At one point, he successfully completed a program through the Maine judicial branch’s drug court system, and he lived for six months at a sober house. But Aaskov relapsed.
“These last few years have been very difficult for us. Watching my son go through this has been heartbreaking,” said his father, who is also named David Aaskov. “I don’t want to give up on David … he has a lot of good in him.”
Four other Maine men were charged in connection with the DEA wiretap inquiry into a drug ring based in Massachusetts.
Of those defendants, the other man facing the most serious charge was Daniel Tarbox of Biddeford. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and is expected to be sentenced in November.
Three others were charged with less serious conspiracy counts: Brent Kinney of Old Orchard Beach, Matthew Coffin of Durham and Christopher Hunnewell of Chelsea. Kinney and Coffin pleaded guilty, and they await sentencing. Hunnewell has pleaded not guilty, and his case is on Judge Singal’s December trial schedule.
Drug agents say the demand for heroin in this state has remained steady in recent years. Of the drug-related arrests by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency in 2008, 6 percent were for heroin, compared with 9 percent for crack cocaine, 27 percent for powder cocaine, 17 percent for marijuana and 39 percent for prescription drugs of several types.
Aaskov said he began going to Massachusetts to buy heroin because it was cheaper than buying drugs in southern Maine.
The suppliers of the heroin – William Mejia-Cruz of Jamaica Plain, Mass., Eddy Mejia-Guerrero of Charlestown, Mass., and Jose Reyes-Cancel of Kissimmee, Fla. – have pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with the investigation.
They admitted to having distributed more than 11 pounds of cocaine and more than 2 pounds of heroin. All three await sentencing in federal court in Portland.
Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at: tmaxwell@pressherald.com
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