N.B. man held on OxyContin charges

BANGOR – A New Brunswick man has been detained temporarily in Penobscot County Jail on federal drug charges after his arrest over the weekend by Brewer police and members of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Arthur Michael Kinsella, 45, town unknown, was charged Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor with conspiracy to distribute OxyContin and possession of with intent to distribute OxyContin.

A detention hearing is scheduled to be held Thursday in federal court in Bangor.

If convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million per count.

Kinsella’s case is part of a broad investigation into the distribution of OxyContin in Hancock and Washington counties initiated by various law enforcement agencies, according to court documents.

Kinsella was arrested by Brewer police about 7:45 p.m. Saturday on Route 9 near Clifton. Police found a prescription bottle with his name on it that contained 100 oxycodone pills in his car, according to court documents. He admitted bringing the pills into Maine at the Milltown crossing near Calais and not declaring them.

He denied that he intended to sell them.

A woman identified in court documents as Kinsella’s mother said that her son had picked her up in Saint John, New Brunswick, and told her they were going to Bangor International Airport to pick up her daughter. She said that when her son picked her up, he gave her the pills to put in her purse.

She has not been charged.

Federal prosecutors learned of Kinsella’s alleged activities in December from an unnamed defendant awaiting sentencing on federal drug charges, according to the affidavit filed Monday in federal court.

The defendant allegedly told prosecutors that he obtained an average of 150 OxyContin pills each month from Kinsella and distributed them in the Bangor area.