PORTLAND

A New York City man has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison on heroin trafficking charges steming from a 2012 traffic stop in Topsham.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said Roger Burke, 31, pleaded guilty in August to conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin.

Prosecutors said Burke, who was sentenced Monday, was arrested in October 2012 after he attempted to deliver more than 20 grams of heroin to a cooperating informant working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The Portland Press Herald reported Burke was the passenger in a vehicle driven by Bri- ana Frazier, 23, of Yarmouth, when they were stopped by federal agents on Oct. 17, 2012, in Topsham. Frazier had 700 bags of heroin on her, which Burke admitted belonged to him. An unnamed defendant from another case who worked with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration had arranged to buy the heroin from Burke as part of a sting, according to court records.

Because this was Burke’s third drug trafficking conviction, he was sentenced as a “career offender,” subject to increased prison terms under the federal sentencing guidelines.

Burke was sentenced by Judge D. Brock Hornby to serve 151 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.



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