RUMFORD – A 10th person was arrested Thursday night on felony drug charges in connection with Wednesday afternoon’s drug raids in the Rumford area.

Christopher Dougherty, 22, of Rumford, was charged by arresting officer Daniel Garbarini with two Class B counts of OxyContin trafficking. Unable to post $5,000 cash bail, Dougherty was transported to Oxford County jail.

Aware that a warrant had been issued for his arrest, Dougherty contacted police from a residence on the East Andover Road to turn himself in, said Sgt. George Cayer. However, police had to drive out to get Dougherty.

Others arrested Wednesday after five simultaneous raids by 35 officers were:

• Andrew Korhonen, 42, of 318 Waldo St., on the charge of aggravated trafficking in marijuana, released on $5,000 unsecured bail.

• Shawne R. Gardner, 28, of 428 Waldo St., on the charge of aggravated trafficking in marijuana, released on $10,000 unsecured bail.

• Helen Crider, 41, of 30 Falmouth St., on the charge of trafficking in prescription painkillers, released on $5,000 unsecured bail.

• Thomas Cowdrey, 48, of 30 Falmouth St., on the charge of trafficking in prescription painkillers, released on $5,000 unsecured bail.

• Bonnie Bouchard, 20, of 76 Maine Ave., on four counts of trafficking in prescription painkillers and five counts of trafficking in marijuana, released on $20,000 unsecured bail.

• Jeremy Richards, 31, of 241 Pine St., on two counts of aggravated trafficking in marijuana, released on $10,000 unsecured bail.

• Daniel McCann, 25, of 512 Kennebec St., on one charge of violation of conditions of release. He was initially arrested on April 3 and charged with aggravated cocaine trafficking. As a result of Wednesday’s arrest, he was transported to Oxford County jail.

• Peter Cunningham Jr., 19, of Andover Road, on outstanding arrest warrants for two counts of aggravated trafficking in marijuana and one count of trafficking in OxyContin, released on $20,000 unsecured bail.

• Rhana Wood, 19, of 700 Roxbury Road, Mexico, on four counts of trafficking in prescription painkillers, released on $10,000 unsecured bail.

Initial release meant paying a $40 bail commissioner’s fee. Arraignment for all 10 was set for Oct. 7 in Rumford District Court.

Rumford Detective Lt. Wayne Gallant said the raids were the result of a year-long undercover drug-buying investigation dubbed Operation Snowball.

Operation Snowball is the second phase of a multi-phased effort aimed at eliminating drug trafficking in the immediate vicinity of area schools.

Several of those arrested garnered the elevated felony aggravated trafficking charge for sales within 1,000 feet of a school, Gallant added.

The initial phase – Operation Noble Deed – also netted 10 people, albeit on felony charges of cocaine trafficking following drug raids in mid-May of last year.

Wednesday’s arrests targeted cocaine-based painkillers that were allegedly being trafficked by most of those arrested, Gallant said.

A New England law enforcement grant for $5,000 provided police with funds to purchase the drugs while undercover, Gallant said.

Most of the undercover drug buys under Operation Snowball involved purchases of three to 12 pills at $20 a pill, although OxyContin has a street value of one dollar per milligram and is sold as 10, 20 or 40 milligrams,” said Maine Drug Enforcement Agency special agent Tony Milligan.

Additional evidence seized in Wednesday’s arrests was still being processed. It could help police solve several property crimes in the area, Gallant said.

“Through this (bust) things will open up. There have been a lot of property crimes and we’re finding some of them are related to drug buys,” he added in noting the correlation between thefts of property items and feeding drug habits.

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