AUGUSTA — An Augusta man was sentenced to one year in prison for selling crack cocaine in Augusta.
Gerard Cormier, 35, was sentenced Friday to four years in prison, with all but one year suspended, after pleading guilty to charges he sold 0.2 grams of crack cocaine on June 14, 2018, on State Street in Augusta to a confidential informant working with police, and possessed cocaine on Aug. 27, 2018, also in Augusta.
Charges of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, trafficking in schedule W drugs and aggravated trafficking in schedule W drugs were dismissed.
Cormier initially was accused by Augusta police of trading heroin with another man in exchange for a shotgun, while being prohibited from possessing a firearm because he has a felony operating under the influence conviction, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by Augusta Detective Benjamin Murtiff last August. However, that charge was dismissed, Assistant District Attorney David Spencer said.
Police still seized the Mossberg Maverick 88 shotgun from Cormier.
An affidavit filed by Nathan Walker, a special agent with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, said police were told by a confidential informant they could purchase crack cocaine from a State Street home owned by Cormier. The informant then purchased 0.2 grams of crack cocaine, for $50, in a small blue plastic jewelry bag, from Cormier.
Asked by Judge Geoffrey Rushlau if he had anything to say, Cormier said only, “Negative, your honor,” via a video link from the Kennebec County jail.
His sentence includes two years of probation, with conditions including that he not use an excessive amount of alcohol; not possess illegal drugs, dangerous weapons or firearms; be subject to searches; and undergo substance abuse treatment.
He also will have to pay a $400 fine. The fine was initially to be $800 – $400 for each count he pleaded guilty to – but his attorney, James Mitchell Flick, successfully argued for the reduced fine, noting Cormier will be spending a year in jail, so paying back $800 in fines would be a hardship.
Cormier has been in custody since August.
He was indicted on the charges in December.
Keith Edwards can be contacted at 621-5647 or at:
kedward@centralmaine.com
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