Five men and women were arrested during the raid. Three others were captured later.
SABATTUS – A man charged in a drug raid at a Crowley Road trailer last year was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison.
Juan Antonio Navarro, 23, was sent to a federal prison after he was convicted of trafficking crack cocaine between Massachusetts and the Lewiston area.
Prosecutors said Navarro was the manager of a group of Dominican nationals who were bringing crack from Springfield, Mass., and dealing it from a Sabattus mobile home.
Investigators said the group began selling crack in the area in the early summer of 2002. On an early evening in November of that year, local, state and federal agents stormed the Crowley Road trailer after learning there were drugs and weapons inside.
Five men and women were arrested during the raid. Three others were captured later and charged with being part of the drug trafficking network.
The investigation involved Maine drug agents as well as officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force.
Investigators from the Immigration and Naturalization Service were called to assist after it was learned some of the suspects were in the country illegally.
Police tracked down suspects from the Dominican Republic, Portugal and Canada as well as others from Sabattus and Springfield.
In all, eight people have been convicted and sentenced for their roles in the crack trafficking operation. Investigators said most of them lived together in the trailer on a rural stretch of Crowley Road.
Navarro was convicted of the drug trafficking charges at a jury trial in June. On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Gene Carter ordered Navarro to spend 25 years in federal prison.
mlaflamme@sunjournal.com
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