OXFORD — Sixteen people were charged with selling a variety of drugs over the course of four days at the Nateva Music & Camping Festival at the Oxford Fairgrounds.
Drug-trafficking arrests accounted for about half of the 34 arrests and summons made by law enforcement officers during the four days of the festival. Six people were charged with possession of illegal drugs.
Gerry Baril, supervisor of the Western District Task Force of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, said four agents worked at the festival, with a fifth working on Friday.
The MDEA was calculating the total amount of drugs seized during the festival, Baril said. As of Tuesday afternoon, the totals were more than 600 Ecstasy pills and 200 grams of powdered Ecstasy; more than 900 squares of LSD; more than 175 grams of ketamine; more than a pound of psylocybin mushrooms; almost four pounds of marijuana; and more than an ounce of cocaine. The drugs were packaged for sale in small amounts.
Baril said some of the seized items were fake drugs. They included half a pound of non-psylocybin mushrooms and 1,200 squares of fake LSD.
According to court documents, several of the busts were made when the festival’s security guards conducted searches of concert-goers and their property. In one instance, Chief David Verrier of the Paris Police Department saw a man throw a bag containing a scale and drugs over a fence into the fairgrounds. The 900 LSD squares were found on one person after security guards caught him spray-painting.
Two of the trafficking arrests were Maine residents, and the rest were from out of state. Police arrested three people on Thursday, seven on Friday, two on Saturday, and four on Sunday on trafficking charges.
Assistant Attorney General David Fisher expects that the charges will be presented to a grand jury next month.
Six people were arrested for disorderly conduct. Other charges brought against festival attendees included criminal trespass, criminal mischief, assault, operating under the influence, indecent conduct and violation of bail conditions.
Chief Jon Tibbetts of the Oxford Police Department said he felt the festival was successful and that police and security coordinated well to address any problems. He said the number of arrests was low when compared to the total attendance, which he put at about 8,200.
“It doesn’t even figure out to be 1 percent of the people who were there,” he said.
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