Drug sentences handed down in federal court

BANGOR- A Caribou man arrested last April with 64 grams of cocaine in his pocket has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of possession with the intent to distribute cocaine.

Because he is classified as a career offender, Jeffrey Allan Doucette, 33, received an enhanced prison sentence on Dec. 28. He will serve 151 months in prison to be followed by six years of supervised release. Doucette also was recommended to undergo a 500-hour drug treatment program while in prison, which could reduce the length of his sentence.

Doucette was jailed after his sentencing at U.S. District Court in Bangor. U.S. District Judge George Z. Singal presided.

According to a court affidavit, Doucette reportedly made regular trips to New York to secure cocaine and then supplied a few other cocaine dealers in northern Maine with the drug. Agents with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency placed Doucette under investigation and arrested him April 13 as he dropped off about a quarter-ounce of cocaine to another area dealer. The drug has a street value of about $3,200 per ounce.

In another drug case, a southern Maine man was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison Wednesday after being convicted of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana.

After a five-day trial last August in Portland, Ray Dismore, 41, was convicted of the single drug-conspiracy count and of two counts of filing false income tax returns. During his Wednesday sentencing, Judge Singal also ruled him to be a leader, organizer or supervisor of a criminal scheme to distribute marijuana, a ruling that resulted in more prison time for the former construction worker.

Dismore technically was sentenced to 140 months in prison on the drug-conspiracy conviction and to one year in prison on each of the income-tax counts. The sentences will be served concurrently, or together. He was ordered to forfeit a piece of property in the southern Maine community of Raymond to make up for the government’s reported loss of between $10,000 and $13,500 in the income tax case.

Through his attorney, Bruce Merrill of Portland, Dismore tried to convince the judge he was not a ring leader of a conspiracy that resulted in the trafficking of more than 200 pounds of marijuana over about five years. He also tried to argue that most of his multiple convictions in the past, starting in 1986, were for driving offenses, operating after suspension or operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor.

Dismore’s attorney argued his client’s past should not be used as underlying conduct that would enhance his prison time on the drug conviction. Dismore’s fiancee and her brother also spoke on his behalf. Dismore told the judge he is trying to remain sober and drug-free.

Judge Singal, however, said he found it “disturbing” that someone with Dismore’s history of substance abuse would become involved in distributing marijuana.

Singal agreed with Assistant U.S. Attorney John Chapman of Portland that Dismore’s past convictions should be used in figuring his criminal status for sentencing purposes. The fact he has 15 convictions starting at age 19 relays a “history of criminal offenses,” the judge observed.

“The number of offenses does not convince me he [Dismore] will not commit future crimes,” Singal added.