Two women are facing cocaine trafficking charges after Maine Drug Enforcement Agents on Friday searched properties in Augusta and Manchester.

Shenika Boyd, 33, previously of New York, was charged with unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs after police searched her room at a motel on Western Avenue in Manchester, Cmdr. Darrell Crandall of the Maine DEA said in a news release issued Monday.

Kathy Tupper, 48, was charged with aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs after police searched her home on Mayfair Road in Augusta.

Tupper also was issued a warrant charging her with failure to appear to answer a charge of theft by unauthorized taking.

Tupper remained at the Kennebec County jail Monday in lieu of $2,060 cash bail. Boyd was being held in lieu of $10,000 cash bail.

Boyd and Tupper are scheduled to appear in Kennebec County Superior Court on May 14.

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Police also searched a home on Kendall Street, but the homeowner has not been charged.

Maine DEA agents, assisted by Augusta police and Kennebec County sheriff’s deputies, searched the three homes late Friday, Crandall said. He said agents seized more than two 2 1/2 ounces of cocaine valued at $7,400, 184 oxycodone tablets valued at $1,840 and $3,370 in cash, among the three searches.

“The criminal investigation, led by MDEA’s South Central Task Force, began several months ago and has included the purchase of cocaine from Tupper and others not yet identified,” Crandall said.

An affidavit filed in Kennebec County Superior Court by MDEA Agent Jonathan Richards said Tupper — on at least two occasions — sold cocaine to a DEA agent. Among the items taken from Tupper’s home were three electric scales that tested positive for cocaine, Richards said.

“Kathy Tupper has a prior class B drug-trafficking conviction from a sale of illegal drugs to an undercover MDEA agent,” Richards said.

Tupper was sentenced in August 2009 in Kennebec County Superior Court to three years in jail, all of which was suspended, for a conviction of unlawful trafficking in OxyContin. Tupper was sentenced to two years’ probation, the first 90 days of which had to be spent under house arrest, and fined $400.

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An affidavit filed in Kennebec County Superior Court by Special Agent Kelly Hooper said police found a small package of marijuana and about 65 ounces of cocaine inside the motel room Boyd shared with her boyfriend. The couple has rented the room since June 2012.

“During the search, Shenika Boyd arrived back at the (motel) and left when she saw law enforcement,” Hooper said. Police stopped the cab Boyd was riding in and charged her with trafficking.

Crandall said the case is being prosecuted by the Maine Office of the Attorney General.

“Additional arrests are expected in the coming weeks as the investigation continues,” Crandall said.

Craig Crosby — 621-5642
ccrosby@centralmaine.com


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