Bradley cocaine distributor seeks sentence reduction

A Bradley man described as one of the major cocaine distributors in the Bangor area asked for a reduction of his seven-year prison sentence Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

Mark Hogan, 34, who is serving a prison sentence at the LaTuna, Texas, federal corrections facility, asked that his sentence be reduced as a way to get an earlier release through parole.

Hogan’s attorney, Marshall Stern of Bangor, cited his client’s extensive cooperation with government authorities as justification for the sentence reduction.

“He’s paid his debt,” Stern said during the hearing.

U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby, who heard the request, said he would make a decision on the matter later this week.

After being indicted on 53 drug counts, Hogan and his wife, Patricia, were sentenced in January 1988 under a plea agreement as leaders of one of the area’s principal cocaine-distribution rings. Patricia Hogan received a sentence of five years, with all but four months suspended.

The couple admitted distributing between 20 to 25 kilograms, or about 50 pounds, of cocaine in the area through a number of local dealers. The cocaine had an estimated street value of $1.6 million to $2 million.

The Hogans’ cooperation led to the arrest and conviction of their supplier, Celestino Mendez, a Cuban national sentenced last year in the Bangor federal court to 20 years in prison for his part in an interstate drug enterprise. In turn, Mendez implicated top Cuban drug lords operating out of Miami who brought more than 5 tons of cocaine into the country.

After his sentencing, Hogan filed an appeal with the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, challenging the fact that the actual amount of cocaine he distributed, instead of the lesser amount for which he was charged, was used as a factor in considering his parole eligibility. He lost the appeal.