Drug, gun sentence sends man to prison

BANGOR – A Trenton man considered to be a major drug dealer in Hancock County was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to 121/2 years in prison on federal drug and gun charges.

Darrell W. Dolliver, 34, also was sentenced to five years of supervised release after he is released from prison.

“That’s a heavy sentence, Mr. Dolliver,” U.S. District Judge John Woodcock said Monday. “The reason I have imposed it results from the range of conduct you engaged in that brought you to this court today.”

Dolliver was found guilty last year of using a gun to further drug activity after a two-hour bench trial before Woodcock. At the time of his trial, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Four other gun charges were dropped Monday at his sentencing.

Woodcock sentenced Dolliver to 71/2 years on the drug charges and five years on the gun conviction, the mandatory minimum required by federal law.

The federal sentencing guidelines called for the sentence to be between 12 and nearly 14 years in prison and a fine of between $10,000 and $100,000. While Woodcock found that the defendant had the ability to pay the fine, the judge instead made it a condition of Dolliver’s supervised release that he pay the $7,000 he owes in back child support.

Dolliver admitted that between April and September 2003 from a storage facility in Ellsworth he traded drugs, including heroin, for 17 legally and illegally obtained guns and household items. Hancock County Sheriff William Clark compared Dolliver’s alleged drug ring to a “pawn shop” type of operation when he was arrested in 2003.

Dolliver is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in Penobscot County Superior Court in Bangor on state charges related to his drug operation. The sentencing was moved to Bangor to accommodate Superior Court Justice Andrew Mead’s schedule.

Dressed in a wool sport coat, white shirt and tie, Dolliver did not react Monday when the lengthy federal sentence was handed down. At the end of the sentencing hearing, Dolliver said that he would appeal it.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Perry described Dolliver as a major heroin dealer in Hancock County who sold drugs to support his own 30-bag a day heroin habit.

Dolliver, who has been held without bail in the Hancock County Jail for almost 21/2 years, told Woodcock that he was a changed man. He said he had participated in a drug treatment program and been baptized while incarcerated.

“I apologize for any and all wrongdoing I’ve done in the past,” he said Monday. “I have a good start on my sobriety. I have a lot to give and think I can help others. … I don’t feel a real long prison sentence is how I should be punished.”

His plea agreement with state prosecutors calls for any state sentence to be concurrent with his federal sentence.

Since his arrest, the items police seized at two Ellsworth self-storage facilities have remained in storage. They are expected to be auctioned off to pay the $3,000 in back rental fees Dolliver owes the owner.

Among the items police recovered were a church piano, a silver Communion tray, two all-terrain vehicles, five plastic storage bins full of sports trading cards, televisions, sporting equipment, an antique work bench, an air conditioner and a stuffed duck.

An estimated 10 computer systems, a church-owned snowblower, a snowmobile and several new power tools also were seized in the storage facility searches, according to police.