Largest-ever Maine heroin seizure announced by Maine DEA

Inset, Jason Bolduc of Parsonsfield and Nichole Farrar of Sanford along with some of the evidence gathered in Sanford and Wakefield, N.H., seizures (Maine DEA photo)

SANFORD - More than eight pounds of heroin/fentanyl have been seized in what Maine DEA agents are calling the largest seizure of the drug in and bound for Maine.

About half of the seizure was actually made in Massachusetts, agents said.

The Sanford portion of the take came Jan. 13 when 39-year-old Jason Bolduc of Parsonsfield and 35-year-old Nichole Farrar of Sanford were arrested by state and federal drug agents after police stopped a vehicle on Nowell Street in Sanford.

Both were charged with Unlawful Trafficking in a scheduled W drug (Heroin/Fentanyl) and are being held at York County Jail on $250,000 cash bail. Sanford Police and the York County Sheriff's Office also assisted.

As part of the investigation, MDEA agents assisted U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Agents Friday in an operation that led to the seizure of 4.4 pounds of heroin/fentanyl in Massachusetts, which was destined for Maine. A number of suspects have been identified and the investigation is continuing with additional arrests expected.

The combined street value of the seized drugs is more than $1.8 million. MDEA agents from the York District Task Force along with agents from the U.S. DEA have been investigating Bolduc for the past four months suspecting he was selling the drug throughout southern Maine from his home at 27 Franks Place in Parsonsfield, a few hundred feet from Route 153 and the state border with New Hampshire.

A team of State and Federal drug agents and State Police stopped a rental vehicle Bolduc was in on Jan. 13. Seized from the rental vehicle and from Bolduc's personal vehicle which was parked near-by was 3.88 pounds of heroin and $2,473 in cash. Investigators then tracked down a storage unit Bolduc had rented in Wakefield, N.H., which contained $177,881 in cash and ledger books detailing past drug sales and several handguns. The Carroll County (NH) Sheriff's Office and Wakefield (NH) Police assisted in the seizure at the storage unit. In all $180,354 in cash was seized.

Maine Public Safety Commissioner John Morris said the heroin seizure is the largest in state history and is the equivalent of more than 35,000 individual doses.

"The arrests and seizure have likely saved a number of lives from drug overdoses in both Maine and New Hampshire from this poison," Morris said. The Commissioner also credited the increase in the number of drug agents in the past two years which enabled MDEA the additional resources to investigate this extensive case.

Fourteen new agents were assigned to MDEA in early 2016. The Commissioner said this is the second large heroin/fentanyl case MDEA has disrupted in the past year. Last July, over two pounds of the drug was seized in Scarborough that was destined for Aroostook County, which was the largest seizure in Maine at that time.

Agents also seized a number of vehicles and equipment from Bolduc's rented home in Parsonsfield, believed to have been purchased with proceeds he made from selling the illegal drugs. Among those items seized from the house was a 2012 Ford pickup, 2009 Dodge Challenger, 2006 Dodge Charger, 2016 New Holland tractor, two Polaris ATVs, a car hauler and a dump trailer. The estimated value of the vehicles and equipment is over $100,000.