LEWISTON — Saying she had “concerns about the safety issues,” a judge set bail Wednesday at $75,000 cash for a local man charged with trafficking what prosecutors called a “substantial” amount of fentanyl.
Suspected drug trafficker Marcel M. Seeley, 56, of Lewiston appears Wednesday in 8th District Court in Lewiston via videoconference from the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn. Christopher Williams/Sun Journal screenshot from video
Marcel M. Seeley, 56, was charged with four felonies, including two counts of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs, each punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Seeley also was charged with two counts of unlawful possession of scheduled drugs. The maximum penalty for each of those felonies is five years in prison.
Patrol Officer Spencer Simoneau wrote in an arrest affidavit that during a search of Seeley’s motel room at the Light House Inn on Tuesday, shortly after 1 a.m., police found a safe in a closet and pried it open.
Police recovered from the safe $2,150 in cash, 313 grams of what was later confirmed as fentanyl, 4.5 grams of methamphetamine, as well as 125 various pills.
Inside the motel room, police found a box for a handgun that contained two magazines, one loaded and one empty.
Outside the motel, in Seeley’s vehicle, police found a Glock 9 mm handgun with a loaded 17-round magazine and an empty 30-round magazine plus three boxes that contained 120 rounds of ammunition, according to the affidavit.
Information leading to the search resulted from a traffic stop Monday night on Lisbon Street.
A woman passenger had told police that Seeley brings drugs to Maine from Massachusetts and told the officer making the traffic stop about the Light House Inn motel on South Lisbon Road where they might find Seeley with a large amount of drugs, according to the affidavit.
The woman told police about the safe in the closet, that he carries drugs in a backpack and that he owns a firearm that he recently bought.
Assistant District Attorney Katherine Hudson-MacRae was seeking $75,000 cash bail for Seeley Wednesday during a hearing in 8th District Court.
Seeley appeared by videoconference from Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.
Hudson-MacRae asked that, if Seeley were to make bail, he not be allowed to have any illegal drugs for which he could be searched and tested if suspected to have violated bail.
She also sought to have him barred from having any dangerous weapons for which he could be searched at random.
Judge Susan Driscoll agreed to all of Hudson-MacRae’s bail terms, as well as her request that Seeley be confined to house arrest, “given the nature and circumstances to the crime charged, the nature of the evidence against the defendant and the history here.”
Hudson-MacRae also noted Seeley had twice failed to appear in court on an earlier misdemeanor charge and expressed concern about Seeley’s appearance at future court dates if bailed.
Driscoll agreed and added: “I have concerns about the safety issues raised by the allegations here.”
Defense attorney Jason Ranger said Seeley had a minor criminal record and had been a lifelong Maine resident.
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