Portland Man Sentenced to Seven Years for Crack Cocaine Distribution

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

Portland, Maine:  United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that William Weston, 36, of Portland, Maine was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge George Z. Singal to seven years in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute cocaine base, often referred to as crack cocaine.  Weston entered a guilty plea to the charge in October 2015.

Court records reveal that between December 2013 and January 2015, Weston conspired with others to sell crack cocaine in Portland.  Members of the conspiracy arranged for the acquisition of drugs out of state.  Once the drugs were transported to Maine, they were provided to retail distributors 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 Weston and other members of the conspiracy. 

This case was investigated by the Southern Maine Gang Task Force, which is comprised of investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Portland, South Portland, Biddeford, and Lewiston Police Departments; the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.  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.