LEWISTON — Police and state drug agents arrested a local man Tuesday on drug and gun charges following a foot chase downtown.
Brian Cormier Submitted photo
Brian Cormier, 34, faces nine charges, including four counts of aggravated trafficking, each charge a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
He also was charged with illegal possession of a firearm by a felon and theft, each felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Cormier was charged with two misdemeanors stemming from the arrest.
Local police had been investigating an alleged theft from Cumberland Farms on Sabattus Street in Lewiston, prosecutors said.
Police traced the suspect to a Pine Street address. When they knocked on the door at that address, Cormier reportedly fled with a backpack.
Officers stopped him two blocks from that address and searched his backpack.
In it, they found a gun and drugs, including fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine and Suboxone, police said.
Cormier appeared in 8th District Court on Wednesday by videoconference from Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.
He wasn’t asked to enter any pleas because some of the alleged crimes are felonies and must be presented to a grand jury for indictment before trial unless he were to waive indictment.
In April, prosecutors filed a motion to revoke Cormier’s probation from a 2021 drug conviction.
Cormier denied Wednesday that he violated terms of his probation.
A judge ordered Cormier held without bail on that motion for revocation pending a hearing in that case that is scheduled for Aug. 31.
Meanwhile, a judge set bail on the new charges at $50,000 cash with conditions that include not having alcohol or illegal drugs for which he can be searched if suspected of violating those terms. He is barred from having any firearms for which he can be searched at random. Cormier is not to return to Cumberland Farms.
The court appointed an attorney to represent him on both matters. That attorney may seek a bail hearing in either or both cases, the judge said.
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