AUBURN – Police arrested five men from Brooklyn, N.Y., this week on charges of selling cocaine within 1,000 feet of an elementary school.

One man was arrested in Lewiston on Thursday night, followed by the arrests of four others at 7 Chestnut St., Auburn, near Webster Elementary School.

Police said they seized about 2 ounces of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $2,500, and $6,000 in cash from the apartment.

Investigators said the cocaine network consisted of a familiar scenario: dealers from New York come to the Lewiston-Auburn area to set up shop in apartments.

Once settled, the dealers use local addicts and others to peddle the drugs around the Twin Cities, according to Maine Drug Enforcement Agency Supervisor Gerry Baril..

In this week’s series of busts, police said they nabbed a key player in the network, known locally as “V2.” That man, Ronn Pierre Collington, 22, formerly of Brooklyn, was living in the apartment at 7 Chestnut St.

Also arrested were: Ernest Anduze, 25, also known as “E”; Benchi Civil, 22, also known as “Coog”; Klanel Louis, 25; and Steve Theard, 22, also known as “Fuse”; All are formerly from Brooklyn; Anduze also is formerly from Orlando, Fla.

Police said Civil is currently on probation in New York for robbery. Theard is on probation in New York for possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute.

Collington and Theard said they were living in the apartment at 7 Chestnut St. where the five were arrested. Police said Civil provided several Auburn addresses as his homes, while the other two have only been in the Lewiston-Auburn area for a few weeks.

All five men were booked at the Androscoggin County Jail. Bail was set at $25,000 cash for Theard, Civil, Louis and Aduze, and at $100,000 cash for Collington.


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