FARMINGTON — Drug agents stopped 188 bags of heroin from reaching Franklin County last week as a result of a vehicle stop on Center Street in Auburn, according to court documents.
A special agent filed an affidavit with a Farmington court on behalf of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency outlining how the heroin from Connecticut reached Maine. The affidavit was in support of probable cause for the arrest of Logan White, 27, of Industry, who faces several drug charges, including aggravated trafficking in schedule drugs.
The agent received a search warrant to stop a vehicle driven by White’s girlfriend, Lauren Leonard, 23, listed with addresses in Peru and Industry, and to search it for evidence of heroin smuggling, importation and distribution.
Among the charges Leonard faces are felony unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs. Agents had information that Leonard would be leaving the state in the afternoon on April 26 to get heroin and return the same day.
Maine State Police observed Leonard’s car at about 9:15 p.m. heading north on the turnpike, followed her and alerted the special agent, according to the affidavit. The agent followed the car from turnpike mile 75 in Auburn to Route 4/Center Street in Auburn, where Leonard pulled up to the gas pumps at a store.
Agents and police surrounded the vehicle, ordered Leonard to get out and told her they had a search warrant. Leonard handed the agent eight bags of dosage units of heroin that were in her bra and told him another 18 bundles of 10 bags each were in the trunk.
She waived her rights and agreed to answer questions, the agent wrote.
During a recorded interview, Leonard admitted to smuggling the heroin from Connecticut to Maine and that she and White were intending to sell much of the heroin upon returning to Industry. She also said she and White consume about one bag each of heroin every day or every other day and sell the rest to support their habit and living expenses, according to the affidavit.
Leonard also admitted the vehicle she was using was provided by someone in exchange for forgiving $90 heroin debt, the affidavit states.
She also said it was White who arranged for the heroin trafficking business.
Leonard and White live together at 1198 West Mills Road in Industry. White was previously convicted of criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated trafficking and is presently on probation for that felony conviction, the agent wrote.
Following the vehicle search, agents searched the couple’s residence. White had taken off in a vehicle moments before police arrived and it was later discovered that Leonard had sent a text message warning him she was being stopped by police, the affidavit states.
Agents also searched White’s place of employment in Farmington and discovered several Western Union money wire transaction records indicating several money wire transfers between White and their heroin supplier, according to the affidavit.
White was found hiding in a trailer in Wilton on April 27 and taken to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to be interviewed.
“White subsequently confessed to selling heroin and intended on selling the heroin” smuggled by Leonard, the agent wrote.
He said he and Leonard have been selling heroin for several months and had taken trips on a three-to-four-week basis, purchasing between 10 and 50 bundles (100 to 500 bags or dosage unit) of heroin each trip, the agent wrote.
They paid the supplier $5 to $6 per bag and in return, they sell it in Rumford, Peru, Dixfield, Farmington, Wilton, Industry and Madison areas for $15 to $25 per bag, the agent wrote.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
Send questions/comments to the editors.
