AUGUSTA — A Monmouth man who coached the junior varsity boys’ soccer team at St. Dominic Academy last year began serving 20 months behind bars on Monday for trafficking in cocaine.
That was the unsuspended portion of the eight-year sentence imposed on John Brissette, 37, after he pleaded guilty in the Capital Judicial Center to unlawful trafficking in cocaine that occurred Dec. 8 in Monmouth. He also forfeited $1,534, which the prosecutor said was found bundled next to the cocaine.
The prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Katie Sibley, told Supreme Court Associate Justice Donald Alexander that investigators with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency “set up a buy-bust situation,” giving a Bowdoin resident marked money to purchase cocaine from Brissette.
Sibley said the buyer drove to Brissette’s home and purchased 14 grams of cocaine from him.
Shortly afterward, agents searched Brissette’s home, she said, finding three bags containing a total of 110 grams of cocaine and close to $2,000 cash bundled next to it in the kitchen. Brissette was arrested at the time.
Sibley said that once the buy money was subtracted, the amount totaled $1,534.
Conditions of the three-year probation, which follows the unsuspended portion of the jail time, prohibit Brissette from possession and use of alcohol and illegal drugs and require him to undergo substance abuse evaluation and counseling if required. Sibley also told the judge that she understood that Brissette had already started counseling.
He was also fined $400 and ordered to pay $120 restitution for the drug testing.
In exchange for the pleas, a charge of aggravated trafficking in cocaine, and two counts of unlawful trafficking in marijuana, all dated Dec. 8, 2015, were dismissed. Sibley had said previously that 1.1 pounds of marijuana were found at Brissette’s home.
His defense attorney, Walter McKee, said Monday that Brissette had no prior criminal record.
Four people watched the brief hearing Monday, but no one other than attorneys and Brissette spoke to the judge.
In an e-mailed statement at the time Brissette was arrested in December, St. Dominic Academy President Donald Fournier said, “John Brissette has only served as a part-time coach at the academy and his current contract has expired,” Fournier said.
Fournier also said law enforcement officials told the academy that there was “no information that the charge is related to the academy, its students, or staff.”
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