PORTLAND

Woman, two men charged with marijuana trafficking

A Portland woman and two men from Massachusetts were charged with drug trafficking after authorities seized six pounds of marijuana, two large bags of psychedelic mushrooms and $33,000 in cash.

The investigation began Tuesday after state police Trooper Kevin Rooney stopped a vehicle on Interstate 295 in Scarborough. Rooney said he smelled marijuana and found $9,000 in cash in the vehicle, according to a news release. Suspecting the two men were on their way to buy drugs, Rooney released the two men, Sean Bailey, 21, and Brandon Livingston, 20.

The trooper then contacted Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agents to get help following the car into Portland. The vehicle stopped at the apartment of Jessie Fredrickson, 31, on Noyes Street, and the apartment was searched.

Fredrickson was charged with aggravated trafficking of marijuana. Bailey and Livingston were charged with unlawful trafficking of marijuana.

BIDDEFORD

Man charged in robbery at Family Dollar store

A Biddeford man was arrested in connection with an armed robbery earlier this month at the Family Dollar store on Elm Street.

Deputy Police Chief JoAnne Fisk said officers arrested Charles E. Reed III, 39, at his home at 82 Green St. on Wednesday.

Reed allegedly entered the Family Dollar store around 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 with another armed man. Wearing disguises, the men demanded cash and fled from the store with a small amount of money.

The other suspect has not been apprehended, Fisk said.

Biddeford police say they found computers and iPhones in Reed’s home that had been stolen in burglaries in Saco and Scarborough. Fisk would not provide more details.

Fisk said Reed’s arrest had nothing to do with the other armed robberies that occurred in Biddeford in the same time period. The suspect in those robberies, Tyler Trottier, 27, committed suicide last week after a manhunt.

SACO

Local woman faces charges of prostitution, drug use

Police have charged a Saco woman with prostitution after a months-long investigation into alleged illegal drug use and prostitution at her home on Lawn Avenue.

Deputy Police Chief Jeffrey Holland said Denel L. Mulligan, 40, of 6 Lawn Ave. was charged with engaging in prostitution, a misdemeanor.

Holland said Mulligan was arrested late Wednesday afternoon. She was taken to the York County Jail in Alfred on drug charges, but details about that case were not available.

Holland said the investigation began in August after Saco police received information that a resident of the home on Lawn Avenue was running a prostitution business. Other women live in the home and the investigation is ongoing, he said.

LEVANT

Six-hour standoff at home ends with arrest of man

Police say a Levant man was taken into custody after a more than six-hour standoff at his home.

Police were called to the home about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday for reports of a drunken man threatening people with a baseball bat. WABI-TV reports that while on the way, troopers were told the suspect had fired a single shot outside.

Police say Gary Bouchard barricaded himself alone inside the home and refused to come out. State police say two victims as well as neighbors were evacuated for their safety.

Bouchard was taken into custody about 2:45 a.m. Wednesday and charged with domestic violence criminal threatening, domestic violence terrorizing, criminal threatening and creating a police standoff.