A former Northport selectman who made more than $500,000 selling marijuana must spend 12 1/2 years in prison, pay the government some $40,000, and forfeit his home, construction company, antique cars and motorcycles, a federal judge decided Wednesday.
Kevin R. Hall, 46, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Portland after being convicted earlier this year of drug dealing, tax evasion and money laundering.
Hall served three terms as selectman in his Waldo County town before losing a bid for re-election last year while he was under indictment.
U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby sentenced Hall to 151 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess marijuana, four counts of willfully evading federal income taxes, and 163 counts of money laundering.
The judge also ordered Hall to pay $16,800 in special assessments, as well as the $27,320 it cost the government to prosecute him.
Hall also was ordered to serve a five-year term of supervised release after his prison sentence.
The judge’s sentencing order also authorized the government to dispose of assets accumulated by Hall.
Those assets include Hall’s primary home in Northport and a second property where improvements were paid for with drug money. Other forfeited assets include those of Fire Island Construction, antique cars and motorcycles, and bank and investment accounts.
The forfeiture order also included a money judgment of $511,321, which the government said represented the total amount of drug proceeds Hall earned during the years he dealt marijuana.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Paula D. Silsby suggested the sentence “demonstrates that those who violate the drug and money laundering laws will not only be prosecuted and punished with lengthy prison sentences, they will also lose all of the assets they acquired through their illegal activities.”
The case against Hall began in 1998 when state authorities learned of his activities from a number informants who had conducted drug deals with him. The information enabled the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency to obtain a search warrant, and Hall’s home was raided in February 1999. Hall’s business and tax records were seized during the search.
“This sort of melded into a federal investigation as a result of the state investigation,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Helene Kazanjian said at the time of Hall’s arrest.
Hall was arrested in March 2002 after federal agents raided his Priest Road home and served him with a 170-count indictment. At the time of the arrest, Hall was serving as selectman and was the owner of Fire Island Construction.
Federal authorities described Hall in their indictment as a large-scale marijuana dealer during the mid- to late 1990s who filed false tax returns omitting “substantial amounts of taxable income and taxes due” during that period.
The government charged that Hall attempted to launder his drug money by “engaging in numerous financial transactions with his drug proceeds knowing that the transactions were designed in whole and in part to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership and control of the proceeds.”
The evidence presented at Hall’s trial in January showed that Hall bought and distributed large quantities of marijuana throughout Maine from 1995 through 1998. The sale generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. The government said Hall disposed of his cash profits by making loans to acquaintances, purchasing collectible cars and motorcycles, and renovating two homes he owned in Northport.
At one point, Hall sued the state over what he said was a collection of rare coins and currency valued at more than $200,000 that he said was taken during a raid. The inventory of items confiscated during the search identified the face value of the confiscated cash, but made no indication that the coins and currency were rare collectibles.
In his lawsuit, Hall contended the state took possession of his rare coins and currency and failed to return the items when he asked for them. The state sent Hall a check for the face value of the money taken during the search but not the actual items. He returned the check. The state denied that its agents switched the coins and currency after leaving Hall’s home with the evidence.
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