BELFAST, Maine — A father and his three adult children were among a half-dozen people arrested recently after a six-month investigation into trafficking of prescription drugs in Waldo County.

Officials from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office joined forces to track down some of the people selling drugs such as OxyContin, morphine and Adderall in the area.

“It’s an ongoing problem that we have,” Detective Merl Reed of the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday after his department issued a press release on the arrests. “As far as getting some of these people off the streets, I think it’ll have a major impact.”

He said that in the future, police are going to focus more on the people prescribing the prescription drugs.

The investigation continues and police expect more arrests to come, according to a sheriff’s department official.

The drug traffickers sold drugs that either had been prescribed to them or came from other sources, the official said.

David Pattershall, 64, of Stockton Springs was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of Class B drug trafficking, punishable by up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to $20,000. He allegedly sold morphine that had been prescribed to him, according to the press release.

Three of his children also were arrested in April as part of the investigation.

Mark Pattershall, 30, of Stockton Springs was charged April 22 with one count of Class B drug trafficking in morphine.

Joanie Pattershall, 32, of Stockton Springs was arrested on April 22 and charged with one count of Class B drug trafficking in morphine.

Kelly Pattershall, 26, of Belfast was arrested on April 13 and charged with trafficking in morphine and trafficking in Adderall, both of which are Class B offenses.

Also arrested for trafficking, though not believed by police to be related to the Pattershalls, were two other Waldo County residents.

Christopher Riley, 31, of Searsport was arrested on April 4 and charged with Class A aggravated trafficking in oxycodone within 1,000 feet of a school, a crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000. He also was charged with Class D trafficking in diazepam.

Neena Jackson-Lamarche, 30, of Belfast was arrested on April 12 and charged with Class B trafficking in Oxycontin.

Three of the alleged traffickers are not eligible to be released on bail, according to the press release:

Riley is being held for violating bail on a previous charge of aggravated assault in a case involving a child under the age of 6 who was injured.

Mark Pattershall is being held for violating probation on a conviction of drug possession that occurred in Massachusetts.

David Pattershall had his bail from an aggravated assault charge revoked as a result of the new trafficking charges.

Reprinted with permission from the Bangor Daily News.

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