Three Rhode Island men were arrested and 2.7 pounds of fentanyl was seized in Aroostook County on Wednesday.
MDEA agents said 60-year-old Pedro Rosario of Cranston, Rhode Island made a deal with MDEA undercover agents to deliver a large quantity of drugs to Aroostook County on Wednesday, said MDEA Commander Darrell Crandall.
Crandall said through surveillance, agents were able to identify two suspect vehicles carrying Rosario and two other men working with him traveling through Maine and into the Houlton area. Both vehicles were stopped traveling south on I-95 in Crystal and a drug detection dog team from the state police was brought in.
MDEA Agents recovered more than two and a half pounds of suspected Fentanyl, purposefully concealed within one of the vehicles. Crandall said the conservative, retail street value of this Fentanyl is estimated at nearly $250,000.
Pedro Rosario, 60, of Cranston, RI, Luis Ortiz, 36, of Providence, RI, and Kelvin Mosquea, 38, of Providence, RI, are currently charged with Class A, Aggravated Trafficking in Scheduled Drugs. They were all taken to the Aroostook County Jail, where they were denied bail until they make an initial appearance before a judge on Friday.
In 2008, Crandall said, Rosario was sentenced in U.S. District Court, District of Maine, to 76 months in prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
Rosario, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, may also be facing charges for re-entering the United States after being deported. The U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations are working together on that aspect of the follow-up investigation.
Crandall said Fentanyl, which is lethal in exceptionally small quantities, continues to drive opioid overdose incidents in Maine and throughout the country. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has estimated the lethal dose of Fentanyl, for most people, at just two milligrams.
