The men are accused of being key players in a Jamaican

cocaine ring.
By Mark LaFlamme
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Two men accused of being key players in a Jamaican cocaine trafficking network operating in the Lewiston area were convicted this week on federal charges.

The pair, described as cohorts of Bates College Professor Linda Williams, were among more than two dozen people snared in a Maine Drug Enforcement Agency roundup earlier this year.

Godfrey Brooks, a 41-year-old reggae singer, was convicted Wednesday of conspiracy to possess and distribute crack cocaine. Stephen McMann, 36, was convicted on the same charge after a six-day trial in U.S. District Court in Portland.

Investigators said Brooks often worked out of Williams’ home on Bardwell Street in Lewiston as part of the drug conspiracy. McMann dealt in the Augusta area, police said.

A tenured music professor at Bates, Williams was charged with two counts of distributing cocaine and one of conspiracy to distribute the drug after agents raided her home in April. She is expected to be sentenced to more than a decade in prison at a hearing Feb. 24.

Investigators say at some point, Williams befriended Brooks and two other Jamaican men who are part of the cocaine network. Starting in June of 2002, Williams let the men live in her house, cook crack cocaine and use the Bardwell Street home as a “safe place,” according to MDEA supervisor Gerry Baril.

Investigators said Williams, Brooks and McMann, as well as nine others charged by the MDEA, were part of a Jamaican cocaine trafficking network that spreads along the entire East Coast of the United States.

“It’s a conspiracy that spans from Florida, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Maine,” Baril said early in the investigation. “There are cells in Miami, in Charleston, in Boston and in Lewiston.”

Police said Williams helped the men by keeping drugs at her house, conducting drug deals while they were away and allowing people to use her car for cocaine runs.

Investigators said they sent informants to Williams’ home wearing body wires to record drug transactions there. Police said that twice, the professor sold the informant crack after producing the drug from under a kitchen counter.

The night of April 11, police and drug agents raided Williams’ house after learning she was about to conduct a $1,000 cocaine deal with one of three informants investigators had been using in the case, according to court documents.

When Williams was arrested, agents also charged Brooks, who goes by the names Dennis Nimbhart and Paul Brown.

Agents also arrested 39-year-old Easton “Jamaican Bill” Wilson and Roderick Allen, the two men police say occasionally lived with Williams.

Investigators described the arrests as a significant move against a Jamaican cocaine syndicate at work in Lewiston and other parts of the country. Police said the leaders of the network would look for drug addicts in the cities where they settled.

“They would recruit local cocaine and crack addicts in these communities to act as mules for the organization,” Baril said.

Those people would fly to Jamaica where they would swallow up to a pound of cocaine in balloons or other packaging. Once back in the United States, they would excrete the drugs and turn it over to operators of the drug operation, Baril said.

In Lewiston, most of the cocaine would be cooked into crack, to serve the demand for that drug on the streets, investigators said.

Police said Williams did not act as a mule for the drug network but served as more of a facilitator for the dealers. In addition to prison time, Williams could face up to $1 million in fines.

When she was arrested, Williams had finished teaching for the year and was preparing to take a trip to South Africa. There, she was planning to do research for a book about black, female musicians, according to friends.

Others who have pleaded guilty in the case are:

Marcus A. McCrillis, 20, of Lisbon; Raymond E. Woodburn Sr., 47, whose last known address is listed as the Androscoggin County Jail; Lisa M. Racine, 42, of Southbridge, Mass.; Doncea Robinson, 39, of Southbridge, Mass.; Jason E. Knapp, 27, of Augusta; Timothy J. Ganun II, 28, of Augusta; Stephen W. McMann, 35, of Augusta; and Cecile St. Hilaire, 42, of Farmingdale.

Police said an additional suspect, Annmarie J. Williams, 41, of Boston, remains at large. She is also charged in a warrant with conspiracy to possess and distribute crack.

Drug agents say more arrests are likely, in Maine and in other parts of the country, as an investigation into the drug ring continues.