Jewelry seized in drug raid on auction block

BANGOR – Rings, pendants, necklaces, watches, earrings and coins seized by drug agents from a Bangor jewelry store three years ago are on the auction block.

The online sale of the jewelry, valued at nearly $750,000, began Friday at www.lonestarauctioneers.com. It will continue through Sunday.

Robert O. Brewer III, owner of the Diamond Connection, which was located in the Airport Mall off Union Street, forfeited the contents of the store when he was sentenced in March 2005 to 21/2 years in federal prison for drug trafficking.

Brewer, who was arrested along with several others in April 2003, was part of a long-running interstate drug business that involved acquiring drugs from Rhode Island to be distributed in Maine.

In a plea agreement with prosecutors, Brewer agreed to forfeit the contents of his jewelry store to the Department of Justice. The detailed inventory of the more than 500 items seized is 74 pages long.

A Justice Department appraiser valued the jewelry at $743,697 in July 2003. The list grouped items together into similar kinds of jewelry, such as 237 watchbands and 145 assorted religious pendants, but listed and appraised them as one item or lot.

Brewer, who pleaded guilty to selling oxycodone out of the Airport Mall store, is scheduled to be released from federal prison in October. He received credit for the eight months he was detained in the Cumberland County Jail while awaiting sentencing. His sentence includes three years of supervised release after his incarceration.

The U.S. Marshals Service administers the department’s forfeiture program. It contracts with Lone Star Auctioneers Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas, to auction off some seized property, including the jewelry from Brewer’s store.

Lone Star divided the jewelry up into 83 lots that are different from those used in the inventory.

Internet bidders must submit registration information along with a $1,000 bid deposit and a form containing an original signature to Lone Star before they can submit bids. It takes at least 24 hours or one business day to activate an account so a person can bid on items. Buyers also may be subject to background checks.

So far, the 17 gold coins Brewer owned have garnered the most interest.

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the photos of the coins had been viewed nearly 900 times, and 13 bids had been submitted. The first bid for $2,500 was posted on Friday afternoon and the most recent for $3,300 was made Tuesday evening.

An assortment of 57 men’s and women’s gold wedding bands had been viewed more than 400 times, and bid on nine times as of Wednesday afternoon. A collection of eight loose pink tourmaline cut stones totaling more than 10 carats had been viewed 214 times, but not been bid on.

Proceeds from the sale of items sold through the asset forfeiture program, including Brewer’s jewelry, are used to fund law enforcement programs.

Under the Equitable Sharing Program, the proceeds often are shared with the local and state law enforcement agencies that assisted in the investigation and arrests which led to the forfeitures.

Because the Bangor Police Department assisted in the raid on Brewer’s shop, and a Brewer police officer is attached to the Bangor area’s U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Task Force, both those agencies should get a portion of the proceeds, according to the Marshals Service.

Police departments most often treat the forfeiture money as an unbudgeted windfall and use it to buy additional equipment or upgrade equipment.