Portland Man Pleads Guilty to Crack Cocaine Distribution Charges

Contact: Julia M. Lipez
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257

Portland, Maine:  United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Samuel Collins, 46, of Portland, Maine, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to conspiring to distribute cocaine base, often referred to as crack cocaine.

Court records reveal that between December 2013 and January 2015, Collins conspired with others to sell crack cocaine in Portland, Maine.  Members of the conspiracy would arrange for the acquisition of drugs out of state.  Once the drugs were transported to Maine, they were provided to retail distributors, including Collins, who would sell the drugs in the Portland area.  During the course of the investigation, law enforcement officers conducted controlled purchases of crack cocaine from Collins and determined that Collins let other members of the conspiracy sell drugs from his apartment.

Collins faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.  He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.   

This case was investigated by the Southern Maine Gang Task Force, which is comprised of investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Portland Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.  The Biddeford and Lewiston Police Departments, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Maine State Police also assisted with the investigation.

The case also results from the ongoing effort of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.