LEWISTON — A Brooklyn man was indicted on drug charges this week, accused of selling the fentanyl investigators say has been linked to several drug overdoses in recent months.
Nera James, 38, was indicted on a dozen counts, including aggravated drug trafficking, and trafficking in counterfeit drugs.
Investigators say James, using the street name “King,” sold dope from an apartment at 91 Walnut St., offering the drugs as heroin when it was in fact fentanyl. Police said he also met customers in tenement hallways on Pierce, Walnut, Nichols and other streets in the downtown area.
According to court documents, James’ fentanyl was linked to so many drug overdoses in the area that some local drug users refused to use it.
On Dec. 20, 2016, police and drug agents stopped James as he was walking on Shawmut Street. Investigators said James was carrying a shopping bag which contained a sock filled with rice, a common way of storing heroin to avoid moisture. Inside the sock, according to police, were several bundles of what appeared to be heroin but which tested to be fentanyl.
Maine Drug Enforcement Agent Nicholas Gagnon estimated there were nearly 8 grams of the drug inside the sock. James was arrested on a charge of trafficking in counterfeit drugs and jailed.
After he was released on $7,500 bail in February, police said James continued to peddle drugs in downtown Lewiston, this time using the name “Dante.” After a pair of drug users identified “Dante” as the source from whom they had been buying, police and drug agents went back to James’ Walnut Street home in early May.
Police said James attempted to escape out a window when agents entered his home, but he was captured and arrested. After a search of the apartment, investigators said they found $6,000 cash inside a sneaker, another $3,000 stashed in a suit coat pocket as well as scales, cellphones and a laptop computer.
On a porch connected to the home, police said they found a lumpy black sock containing ammunition, and bags containing a .38 special revolver and roughly 600 wax bags containing heroin or fentanyl. Police said they also seized a .380 semiautomatic Beretta handgun and a Remington 12-gauge shotgun that had been reported stolen from a home in Yarmouth.
Police said they also found nearly 5 grams of crack cocaine in the search.
James was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn. Bail was set at $50,000 cash, but because he is accused of violating conditions set after his release in February, he was being held without bail pending his next court appearance.
Nera James
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