Former tribal officer guilty of pot charge

PLEASANT POINT – A former tribal police officer and councilor who appeared in tribal court Friday entered a guilty plea to trafficking in marijuana.

Dwayne Sockabasin, 36, who also was charged with escape and falsifying physical evidence, was sentenced to 364 days incarceration with the Department of Corrections.

Sockabasin has worked as a Passamaquoddy language teacher in the elementary schools at Pleasant Point and Indian Township. In 1994, he was a Passamaquoddy cultural teacher at Calais High School.

He appeared Friday before Pleasant Point tribal court Judge Rebecca Irving.

In July, members of the Pleasant Point Police Department attempted to arrest Sockabasin on a charge of violation of probation. But Sockabasin ran into some woods carrying a jacket when police tried to arrest him. When he emerged, he no longer had the jacket, police said.

After Sockabasin’s arrest, police found the jacket in the woods and marijuana in the jacket pocket. Working with a search warrant, police went to Sockabasin’s apartment and found a quantity of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, including scales, according to police.