AUBURN — A Lewiston man was charged Tuesday with nearly a dozen charges in connection to drug and gun crimes.
An Androscoggin County grand jury indicted Brian Cormier, 34, on 10 charges, including four counts of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs with a firearm, each charge a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
He also was charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and receiving stolen property, a crime that carries a maximum prison term of 10 years.
Cormier is facing several related misdemeanor charges.
Local police had been investigating an alleged theft from Cumberland Farms on Sabattus Street in Lewiston, according to prosecutors.
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 court in July in Lewiston by videoconference from 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.
A judge set bail 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 was ordered not to return to Cumberland Farms.
As of Wednesday, Cormier was being held at Androscoggin County Jail on a probation violation.
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