Three Mainers and one man from Massachusetts were arrested on drug-related charges following an investigation that began last September after the overdose death of a teenager from Harrison.
Jacolby Morrison, 18, of Norway, and Jonathan Keefe, 27, of Wakefield, Massachusetts, were charged with aggravated trafficking in heroin, a Class A felony.
Laurie Jones, 52, and Jared Jones, 22, both of Norway, were charged with unlawful possession of heroin, a Class C felony.
Morrison and Keefe are suspected of regularly traveling to Massachusetts to purchase heroin, which was then distributed in Maine, according to a news release from Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland. Undercover officers purchased drugs from Morrison.
Laurie Jones allegedly rented an apartment in Paris that was used to distribute the drugs. Jared Jones is her son.
During their search, police seized about 80 grams – about 800 individual doses – of heroin, along with scales, packaging materials and $1,600 in suspected drug proceeds.
Drug agents began investigating a supply of heroin in Oxford County after a young woman apparently overdosed in September 2015. Cassidy Patten was dropped off at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston but the person who dropped her off left without talking to hospital staff.
Patten, 18, died of an apparent drug overdose. She was a recent graduate of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in South Paris.
Police did not say explicitly that the four people arrested this week supplied the drugs that killed Patten, only that the investigation into her death led to the arrests.
Morrison and Keefe were arrested and taken to Oxford County Jail in South Paris. Keefe’s bail was set at $25,000. Morrison, who violated a previous administrative release, was held without bail.
The Joneses also were taken to jail, where bail was set at $500 each.
Eric Russell can be contacted at 791-6344 or at:
Twitter: PPHEricRussell
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