Franklin Salcedo Strafford County Jail Photo
PORTLAND — A detention hearing has been scheduled on Jan. 6 for an Old Orchard Beach resident arrested and charged by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency with trafficking cocaine and fentanyl.
A search warrant executed at the 28 Highland Ave. home of Franklin Salcedo, 35, turned up 170 grams of fentanyl, 160 grams of crack, 700 grams of cocaine and a quantity of pills suspected to be fentanyl, along with two handguns, Old Orchard Beach Police said in a statement. A search of a second location yielded an additional 120 grams of suspected fentanyl.
Salcedo was taken into custody Dec. 21 following a traffic stop by federal agents.
He is charged with distribution and possession with intent to distribute, and attempt to distribute fentanyl and cocaine, a Class C federal felony. If convicted, he faces a maximum prison term of 20 years.
Affidavits supporting the criminal complaint against Salcedo and applications for search warrants say a confidential third party working with drug agents made two fentanyl purchases from him, the first, at 50 grams on Dec. 1, and a 100-gram purchase on Dec. 13. Salcedo allegedly agreed to a third drug buy on Dec 21 – the day he was taken into custody – and the parties were to meet at a Temple Street parking lot. According to the affidavit, federal agents watched Salcedo leave a nearby residence in a vehicle and a traffic stop and subsequent questioning ensued.
“After providing him with his Miranda warnings, Salcedo indicated that he still wished to answer questions,” U.S. DEA Special Agent Michael Gagnon wrote in the affidavit in support of the criminal charges. “In substance, Salcedo admitted that he intended to sell drugs to (the confidential party).”
The agent said officers knocked on the door of a second individual and asked if someone had dropped off a package for her that day. She allegedly admitted a person she knew as “Sav” asked if he could leave a package in her car for someone else to pick up later. She allegedly told agents she believed the package would contain marijuana. A search of the woman’s car turned up a bag containing smaller individual bags of an off-white powder that tested as fentanyl, Gagnon wrote.
While Salcedo has an Old Orchard Beach address, OOB police say he hails from Lawrence, Massachusetts. Gagnon in a search warrant affidavit said the DEA was conducting a criminal investigation of Salcedo and his associates “for engaging in the trafficking of controlled substances, including fentanyl, from Massachusetts into Maine for further distribution.”
Salcedo was scheduled to make an appearance at U.S. District Court in Portland for a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing on Dec. 29, according to documents on file at the courts. That was postponed, and he is now scheduled to appear at the court before Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf on Jan. 6. The continuance request by his attorney Edward MacColl noted that Salcedo is temporarily detained at Strafford County (New Hampshire) Jail, and that efforts were underway to find a placement to address his medical needs, which were not specified. It noted he had been taken to the hospital, but as of Dec. 28 was back at the Strafford County facility.
Old Orchard Beach Police, Scarborough Police and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office assisted the federal agents in the case.
“This arrest highlights the great relationship between law enforcement agencies within the state as well as with federal agencies,” Old Orchard Beach Police said in their statement. “This partnership continues to remove violent and dangerous criminals from our communities.”
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