PORTLAND — An Auburn man, who probation officers said sold fentanyl and cocaine while on supervised release for a 2016 drug charge, will stay in jail for now.

Vincent Steed Androscoggin County Jail photo

Vincent L. Steed, 39, of 68 High St., Auburn opted Thursday not to challenge his detention pending an upcoming hearing on a motion by prosecutors to revoke his supervised release.

Steed was freed from federal prison last fall after serving a sentence from 2016 for possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and heroin, a charge punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Steed was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, plus three years of supervised release.

According to court records, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency conducted a controlled purchase of fentanyl from Steed on June 2. A day later, Steed sold fentanyl and cocaine, the records said.

The MDEA is charging Steed with three counts of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs and violation of condition of release, according to a federal probation officer.

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The terms of his supervised release prohibit him from committing any new state or federal crimes. Prosecutors said he violated those terms by trafficking in scheduled drugs while on release.

On June 24, state drug agents executed a search warrant at Steed’s Auburn apartment, a federal probation officer wrote in court records.

Agents entered the apartment and found a sandwich bag containing 47 tickets of suspected fentanyl, 23.2 grams of broken, suspected counterfeit Xanax bars, and six multicolored pills inside a bag of dog food under a kitchen counter, according to court records.

Although tests on the suspected counterfeit Xanax bars and pills were inconclusive, one of the 47 tickets of suspected fentanyl tested presumptively positive for fentanyl, according to court records.

He was arrested on a warrant last week charging him with violating terms of his supervised release.

On Thursday, Steed appeared in U.S. District Court via videoconference from an undisclosed federal holding facility. The combined hearing was to determine whether there was probable cause for his arrest on a warrant charging new criminal conduct and whether he should be detained pending a revocation hearing.

He waived hearings on both probable cause and detention.

A hearing on the revocation of his supervised release has not been scheduled.

If he were found to have violated the terms of his release, he would face two additional years in prison and up to a lifetime of supervised release.

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