Portland Man Pleads Guilty to Crack Cocaine Conspiracy

Contact: Michael J. Conley
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257

Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Biniam
Tsegai, 26, of Portland, pled guilty today in United States District Court before Judge Nancy
Torresen to conspiring to distribute cocaine base, also known as crack cocaine.

According to court records, in 2011 and 2012, the defendant was part a drug trafficking
conspiracy that acquired cocaine in Boston and distributed crack cocaine in the greater Portland
area. He prepared crack cocaine for sale and distribution after it had been brought to Maine and
he took orders for and delivered user-level quantities of crack cocaine to customers.

He faces up to 40 years in prison and a $5,000,000 fine. He will be sentenced after
completion of a pre-sentence investigation report by the United States Probation Office.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the
Portland Police Department, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Maine State Police and
the Southern Maine Gang Task Force, which is a task force comprised of agents and officers
from FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Department of Homeland
Security, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Portland and Biddeford Police
Departments.