AUBURN – A man accused of selling marijuana out of his Temple Street apartment told investigators he was trying to make a living in a tough economy.

Calvin Tidswell, 53, was arrested Tuesday when Auburn police and Maine Drug Enforcement agents searched his apartment at 16 Temple St. Police said they found 70 prepackaged baggies – a pound-and-a-half – of pot ready for distribution. Also found was approximately $1,400 in cash, police said.

Tidswell was charged with aggravated trafficking and furnishing marijuana and taken to jail. The latter charge, police said, stems from the sale of pot to underage kids.

Tidswell’s apartment is near a school, which elevated the trafficking charge.

He well known to police and drug agents, having been convicted in 1990 and in 2004 for dealing cocaine. In 2004, he was featured on the front page of the Sun Journal in a story about ex-cons trying to make a living after serving prison time.

“I’d rather starve,” he told a Sun Journal reporter at the time, “than hustle drugs again.”

The same day the story appeared, Tidswell was arrested when drug agents searched his home and found evidence of cocaine trafficking. He was ultimately convicted and sent back to prison where he remained until 2008.

According to Maine Drug Enforcement Agency Supervisor Matthew Cashman, that agency recently received information that 16 Temple St. was again the center of drug trafficking. MDEA agents along with Auburn police set up surveillance and began to watch the building. Over the past several weeks, Cashman said, an inordinate amount of foot and vehicle traffic was seen going to and from Tidswell’s home.

Drug agents stopped some of the people seen leaving the apartment, Cashman said. They had prepackaged quantities of pot and agents determined that they had come from Tidswell, he said.

Police obtained a warrant and searched the apartment on Tuesday. Tidswell was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail where he was being held on $1,000 bail. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance Feb. 2.

Police described the investigation as ongoing.

“Another good example,” said Auburn police Chief Jason Moen, “of how the great partnership between APD and MDEA is taking drugs off the streets everyday.”