BANGOR – A local man and a woman motel owner from Bar Harbor were arrested early Thursday for allegedly trafficking in cocaine after traveling to Portland to pick up the narcotic from a woman in that community.

Recent arrests of 18 local drug dealers by the Bangor-based North Central Regional Taskforce of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency led agents to Joanne Munce, 52, who owns the Rockhurst Motel in Bar Harbor and who has a prior drug tracking conviction, police said.

“During the investigation, we came to realize that Mrs. Munce was traveling to Portland to meet with her cocaine supplier, so we kind of tagged along for the ride,” said Garry Higgins, MDEA supervisory special agent, on Friday.

After the deal was completed, all three suspects were arrested without incident. From there, the Cumberland County Taskforce took over the case, he said.

Undercover agents learned Wednesday that Munce was planning to make “a drug run” and began watching her. Munce was in Bangor to pick up Neal Higgins, 30, for the trip to Portland. The duo left Bangor at around 9:30 p.m. and arrived in Portland just after midnight and met up with Brenda Sue Beeler, 25, in a restaurant parking lot.

“After meeting briefly both vehicles departed and were stopped with the assistance from Portland police and Cumberland County sheriff’s deputies,” Stephen McCauland, Maine State Police spokesman, said in a press release. “From Munce’s purse, agents seized approximately one ounce of cocaine, with a street value of $2,000. Seized from Beeler’s car was $2,000 in cash and a Taser.”

Munce, who served 57 months in prison after she was convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine in 1991, was charged with aggravated trafficking in cocaine. If convicted, she could face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.

Both Higgins and Beeler were charged with trafficking in cocaine, a Class B crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines.

After the arrests, MDEA agents and Portland police officers searched Beeler’s apartment and discovered three sleeping children, ages 1, 3 and 5, alone in the apartment, along with about one-half pound of cocaine, with a street value of $22,000, and a loaded .38-caliber handgun.

“She made that decision to leave those three children there by themselves, that’s the most disturbing part” of the case, MDEA Director Roy McKinney said Friday. “With a discovery of the another 8 ounces at the house with the children, it establishes that she was a significant dealer.”

Maine Department of Health and Human Services was notified about the children.

Agents also seized Beeler’s 1999 Volkswagen Passat and Munce’s 2008 Toyota Scion, and “will request that the Attorney General’s Office seek criminal forfeiture of these vehicles,” McCausland said.

Munce, Higgins and Beeler have been released on bail from Cumberland County Jail and are scheduled to make a first appearance in Cumberland County Superior Court at a later date.

“In addition to MDEA agents from four task force offices, the investigation was assisted by a number of municipal police departments, state police and the Cumberland sheriff’s office,” McKinney said about the multicounty investigation.

“This really demonstrates the extreme importance of having a statewide agency like this,” Higgins said of the MDEA, which was created in 1987. “They know the players down there and we know the players up here. It just really worked out very well.”

nricker@bangordailynews.net

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