PORTLAND (AP) – Two Portland men chose the wrong man to hold up. The man who was robbed at gunpoint was an undercover police detective.

Ryan Hunt, 25, and Harold Ferrar, 27, face lengthy prison sentences after pleading guilty Monday to armed robbery and aggravated drug trafficking in the April 20 holdup of drug agent Erik Larsen from the South Portland Police Department.

Nothing was as it seemed during the incident. Larsen, who was working undercover for the Maine Drug Enforcement administration, posed as a drug user looking to buy heroin, said Assistant Attorney General Leanne Sutton. The men, in turn, pretended to be drug dealers to lure Larsen into a trap so they could rob him, she said.

“They had no intention to sell drugs, but had every intention of committing a robbery,” Sutton said. They did not know Larsen was a police officer, she said.

Ferrar pulled out a gun and held it to Larsen’s neck, and both men punched Larsen repeatedly until he turned over his wallet, police said. They were arrested by other drug agents who were watching the transaction unfold.

The operation at Kennedy Park was part of a two-month investigation in and around Portland Housing Authority properties.

Ferrar and Hunt agreed to plead guilty, but were offered different deals from the state.

Hunt, who did not handle the gun, is facing a 15-year prison sentence, with at least five years suspended. His lawyer, Clifford Strike, can request a greater suspended sentence.

Ferrar was offered a 20-year sentence with five years suspended. He turned down the deal, however. He now faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, but defense lawyer Joel Vincent will argue for a better deal than the one offered by the state. Vincent noted that the gun used in the incident was not loaded.

Larsen, who was treated and released from a hospital, was no stranger to violence on the job. In 2004 he was hit by a car driven by a drug dealer who was trying to escape arrest. That time, he escaped with a broken ankle.

Copy the Story Link