AUBURN — A Lewiston man was convicted Wednesday of using a high dose of fentanyl to assault a woman, whom he then forced into prostitution in exchange for drugs.
Nera James
Nera “King” James, 43, entered a no-contest plea in Androscoggin County Superior Court to a felony count of attempted aggravated assault, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
He also entered the same so-called Alford Plea to two misdemeanor charges of sex trafficking.
In an arranged plea, James and prosecutors agreed to a sentence on the assault charge of 18 months, with all of that time suspended except for the 118 days he has served in jail awaiting trial.
On each of the sex trafficking charges, he was sentenced to 364 days in jail with all but 118 days suspended, with the same credit for time-served.
Two felony charges of aggravated sex trafficking were dismissed.
He will be on probation for one year, during which time he will be barred from having alcohol or illegal drugs for which he can be searched and tested at random.
James must undergo evaluation for substance abuse and mental health.
He may have no contact with his two victims.
Assistant District Attorney Nathan Walsh told Justice Harold Stewart II on Wednesday that a woman who was identified only by her initials would have testified, had the case gone to trial, that in 2016 James had responded to an online ad she placed for prostitution.
She had been engaging in prostitution to support a heroin addiction, Walsh said.
The woman agreed to meet with James at his Walnut Street apartment where he gave her fentanyl that “resulted in her becoming extremely intoxicated upon using a very small quantity,” Walsh said.
She recovered after three days, when James told her she would need to engage in prostitution if she wanted him to supply her with more drugs.
Walsh said the woman “was suffering from withdrawal symptoms at the time and describe(d) the sensation as feeling as though she was going to die (and) that there were bugs under her skin (and) that she could not eat and she was vomiting.”
So, she agreed because she was in a state of psychic and/or physical dependence on the drug, Walsh said.
James had arranged 10 “dates” for her on the first day, Walsh said. James began posting online ads for her to meet clients, using his phone, and keeping the proceeds, up to $6,000 per day, Walsh said.
In return, James gave her fentanyl, which cost significantly less than her earnings, Walsh said.
James punched, kicked and pulled the hair of the woman and didn’t allow her to leave his apartment for the first two months, Walsh said.
She was later allowed to take cab rides to “dates” to whom she would also deliver drugs on James’ behalf, she said.
In the courtroom Wednesday, she told James she hoped he would learn to stop manipulating women.
“This case and you have taken enough of my life from me and today, I take my life back,” she said.
A second victim who had been addicted to opioids had gone to James to buy drugs because she was in withdrawal, Walsh said.
James withheld the drugs from her until she agreed to engage in prostitution to benefit him financially, Walsh said.
James would post online ads for her to meet “dates” at his apartment and she would split half of the proceeds with him. She would use that money to buy fentanyl from James, Walsh said.
James was also arrested in 2017 and charged with federal drug crimes for which he was convicted in 2019.
He was sentenced to 67 months in prison, but was released in 2021.
Walsh said the latest plea agreement took into consideration James’ lengthy federal drug sentence, which was part of the same conduct involving the attempted assault and sex trafficking charges.
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