LEWISTON – A local man was ordered to spend more than 18 years in federal prison Tuesday after he was found guilty of dealing crack cocaine in Lewiston.

Melvin Brown, 39, was sentenced as a career criminal in U.S. District Court in Portland due to prior convictions. Prosecutors said Brown has a history of robbery and drug dealings in Lewiston, Portland and in Massachusetts.

“Melvin was a long-term street dealer,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Toof. “It finally caught up with him.”

In February, Brown was found guilty of possessing with intent to distribute crack after a one-day trial at the Portland courthouse.

The charge stems from a series of undercover cocaine buys made by Maine Drug Enforcement agents in downtown Lewiston late last summer, police said.

Brown was arrested locally but was later indicted in federal court. The investigation that snared Brown was the same one that led to the arrests of several others, including a Bates College music professor, police said.

Several others are expected to be sentenced in October for their roles in the so-called Jamaican crack cocaine conspiracy.

At Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Brown was ordered to serve 220 months behind bars, followed by probation.