WATERVILLE — Four people, including a father and daughter, have been charged with aggravated trafficking and criminal conspiracy after an early morning drug bust on Friday, according to Bill Bonney, deputy chief of police for the Waterville Police Department.
At approximately 3:50 a.m., officers executed a search warrant at an apartment set up as a “trap house” at 24 1/2 Gold St., Bonney said during a phone interview on Tuesday.
Inside the apartment, police found 4.3 grams of fentanyl, 5.3 grams of crack cocaine, more than 2 pounds of marijuana and approximately $1,000 in cash.
Nine people were present at the time of the search. Four were arrested and two were summonsed.
Scott Beatham, 57, of Waterville, and Denzil Handy-Boone, 28, of New York, were charged with two counts of aggravated trafficking of schedule W drugs and one count of criminal conspiracy. Beatham’s bail was set at $25,000 and Handy-Boone’s at $55,000.
Samantha Beatham, 24, of Waterville, and Anthony Perkins, 32, of Waterville, were charged with two counts of aggravated trafficking of schedule W drugs, one count of criminal conspiracy and one count of violating conditions of release. Both were denied bail.
David Sargent, 46, and Ryley O’Brien, 22, were both summonsed on one charge of violating conditions of release.
The four charges of violating conditions of release stemmed from underlying drug offenses.
Bonney said the charges are elevated because the apartment is within 1,000 feet of the Maine Children’s Home for Little Wanderers at 93 Silver Street.
The investigation had been going on for more than a month. It was led by Detective Duane Cloutier of the Waterville Police Department, according to Bonney.
Authorities were initially tipped off about the residence because of the heavy flow of traffic coming in and out of the apartment.
“It became a quality of life issue to the people of the neighborhood because you had people constantly coming and going,” Bonney said. “There were many people staying there, using and selling drugs.”
Bonney said this bust was just another part of the effort to get powerful opioids, such as fentanyl, off the streets.
“This is the stuff that’s killing people,” Bonney said. “We want to get rid of it.”
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