11 People Arrested in Washington County Maine Drug Raids

MDEA agents arrested 11 people in a Washington County drug bust, including one who was hiding in a dryer.

Maine Drug Agents Arrested 7 People in a Roque Bluffs Home Search

Washington County Sheriff's Officials worked with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency on an investigation into drug trafficking that ended in 11 suspects being arrested.

A search warrant was issued at 75 Duck Cove Road in Roque Bluffs, where 7 people were apprehended:

• Kristopher Preston, 38, of Roque Bluffs, is charged with unlawful trafficking in cocaine base. No bail was allowed.
• Jacob Locke, 27, of Machias, is charged with unlawful trafficking in cocaine base and had an MDEA arrest warrant. Locke had been released on pre-conviction bail for burglary and theft of services at the time of his arrest. No bail was allowed.
• Nicholas Merchant, 35, of Roque Bluffs, is charged with unlawful trafficking in methamphetamine and fentanyl, as well as trafficking imitation drugs. Merchant was allegedly hiding in a clothes dryer when a Tactical Team took him into custody. He also had an MDEA warrant and had been released on pre-conviction bail for unlawful possession and violation of conditions of release at the time of his arrest. No bail was allowed.
• Darius Montgomery, 29, of Queens, New York, is charged with unlawful trafficking in methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine base. (crack) No bail was allowed.
• Andrew White, 35, of New York, New York, is charged with unlawful trafficking in methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine base. No bail was allowed.

• Samantha Jo Moore, 22, of Machiasport, was arrested on an unrelated warrant for failure to appear for aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs.
• Bree Landry, 27, of Bangor, was arrested on an unrelated warrant for failure to appear for OUI drugs in Washington County, a warrant for 2 counts of unlawful possession of scheduled drugs, and a warrant for theft, as well as violation of conditions of release.

Maine Drug Agents arrested 3 Suspects in a Centerville Drug Bust

A second search warrant was executed at 43 Mitten Mountain Road in Centerville. Arrested at that address were:

• Willie Merchant, 36, of Centerville, is charged with unlawful trafficking of fentanyl and an MDEA warrant. No bail was allowed.
• Nestor Andres Mejia Mateo, 25, of the Dominican Republic, is charged with aggravated trafficking of fentanyl. The charge was elevated to aggravated based on the weight of the fentanyl seized. No bail was allowed.
• Samantha Roberts was arrested on an unrelated warrant for forgery.

Seized as a result of the two searches were

• 15 grams of methamphetamine
• $838.00 in suspected drug proceeds.
• Over 150 grams of fentanyl
• 5 grams of cocaine base (crack)
• $4,986.00 in suspected drug proceeds.

Centerville Traffic Stop Results in 1 Arrest, Seizure of Crack Cocaine

As those search warrants were being carried out, Nakia Albee, 25 of Jonesport, was arrested during a traffic stop on Mitten Mountain Road in Centerville, just shy of the Merchant home. Albee was arrested on an unrelated arrest warrant for failure to appear for theft, unlawful possession of scheduled drugs, and violation of conditions of release.

Albee was allegedly found in possession of 22.6 grams of suspected cocaine base and charged with unlawful trafficking.

More arrests are expected in this case.

We'll update this story as more details become available.