Former pool hall owner pleads guilty in drug case

ROCKLAND – A former Rockland pool hall owner will spend eight months in jail for selling cocaine at his Homeport Billiards business and possessing cocaine at his home with the intent to sell it.

Craig A. Simmons Jr., 34, of Rockland pleaded guilty Monday in Waldo County Superior Court in Belfast to two counts of trafficking in cocaine, Assistant Attorney General Lara Nomani said Tuesday.

According to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office, when Simmons pleaded guilty Monday, he admitted to selling cocaine at Homeport Billiards and to possessing cocaine at his residence with the intent to traffic.

In a plea agreement, Simmons was sentenced to four years in jail with all but eight months suspended and three years probation, she said, adding that he also was fined $3,000. As part of the deal with the state, the $470 cash seized at Simmons’ home will be applied to his fine, she said.

In December, Maine drug enforcement agents and state police arrested Simmons after reportedly finding 31/2 ounces of cocaine at his residence, cash and drug paraphernalia. At that time, he was charged with one count of aggravated trafficking in cocaine.

According to Nomani, more than an ounce of cocaine was found at a residence he shared with his girlfriend and he had sold 3 grams of the drug to a woman at the pool hall.

Conditions of Simmons’ bail require him to abstain from the use or possession of illegal drugs, to agree to random drug searches of his person, residence and motor vehicle, and to undergo drug counseling to the satisfaction of his probation officer.

A 1998 sting operation by undercover law enforcement agents led to the conviction of three men for drug trafficking at the pool hall. At that time, Simmons claimed to know nothing about the drug sales. However, in July 2000, an administrative court judge fined him $1,023 for “allowing” the sales of cocaine at or near his business, but did not support the state’s attempt to revoke his liquor license.

When it came time to renew his licenses to operate the Winter Street pool hall, city councilors denied his requests because of the prior drug activity there. In an appeal of the city’s ruling, the Bureau of Liquor Enforcement upheld the city’s decision to deny a liquor license. During the November hearing with the bureau, testimony revealed that Simmons had more criminal convictions than he previously disclosed on his license applications.

With no licenses to operate his business, Simmons was forced to close the pool hall in January.