FARMINGTON — A Canadian man was sentenced Tuesday to serve four years in prison for bringing 4.6 pounds of cocaine into Maine on Nov. 12, 2021, according to court documents.
Jermaine Phillips Franklin County Detention Center photo
Jermaine T. Phillips, 41, of Brampton, Ontario, pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated trafficking in schedule W drugs, namely cocaine.
A charge of illegal importation of scheduled drugs was dismissed in a plea agreement.
Phillips and co-defendant Shanna C. Brown, 38, of Cornwall, Ontario, were indicted by a Franklin County grand jury on March 22. She is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail at the Franklin County Detention Center.
The couple’s vehicle was stopped at the Coburn Gore Township crossing in Maine by U.S. Border Patrol.
Agents, with the help of a K-9, discovered the powdered cocaine in a suitcase in the trunk of the car. The couple told investigators they were using a GPS and didn’t see that they were entering the United States, according to a Maine Drug Enforcement agent’s affidavit filed in a Farmington court.
Phillips has no prior history in the U.S. He is the father of children ages 14, 10 and 3, with the youngest having severe autism, his attorney Jason Ranger previously said.
Phillips had been held in lieu of $350,000 bail since shortly after his arrest last year.
He is required to pay a $400 fine, according to court documents.
He faced up to 30 years in prison on the charge.
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