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ELLSWORTH – A Bass Harbor man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty last month to drug charges.
Christopher Richardson, 27, was arrested last July for trafficking in heroin after Maine Drug Enforcement agents raided his Lighthouse Road home and found 8 grams of the drug.
Richardson was sentenced Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to unlawful trafficking, criminal forfeiture, negotiating a worthless instrument, and possessing the oral narcotic hydrocodone, according to documents filed in Hancock County Superior Court.
Richardson received an overall sentence of seven years with all but 18 months of the sentence suspended.
Richardson’s attorney, Douglas Chapman of Bar Harbor, said Friday that most defendants in his client’s situation face sentences of up to five years in jail. Chapman and Assistant Attorney General Matt Erickson, prosecutor in the case, agreed to the 18-month prison term because Richardson had the chance to seek treatment, the defense attorney said.
One of the conditions of Richardson’s four-year probation term is that he gets help from a residential treatment facility upon his release, Chapman said.
“The whole idea is to help him get off his addiction,” the attorney said Friday. “Chris is a good kid. He just happens to be an addict.”
Since his arrest, Richardson voluntarily has been getting treatment at a residential facility in Limestone, Chapman said.
Erickson could not be reached Friday for comment.
Richardson, as part of his conviction, must forfeit to the state $3,555 he obtained through an illegal drug transaction, according to court documents.
He also pleaded guilty to writing two bad checks – one for $3,089 and another for $943.99 – in December 2001 to the Wal-Mart in Bangor.
As part of his probation, Richardson also must submit to random search and testing, have no contact with any known drug abusers, not possess any hypodermic paraphernalia, and must use only one doctor and one pharmacy, according to court documents.
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