RUMFORD — A Rumford man awaiting trial in Paris on drug trafficking charges pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new felony drug trafficking charge in Oxford County Superior Court.

After failing to post $10,000 cash bail, Jeffrey M. Hill, 23, of 201 Waldo St., Apt. 11, was taken to Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.

Rumford police arrested Hill early Tuesday afternoon on a Maine Drug Enforcement Agency warrant charging aggravated drug trafficking and violation of bail conditions.

Tony Milligan, an MDEA assistant supervisor, said Wednesday that Hill is accused of selling prescription narcotics during a controlled purchase on May 1 in Rumford.

Milligan said the charge is considered aggravated because the transaction happened within 1,000 feet of a school or safe zone.

At the time, Hill was free on bail and awaiting jury trial this month in Oxford County Superior Court on previous charges.

He was initially arrested on March 3 by Rumford Sgt. Doug Maifeld on a grand jury indictment warrant charging two counts of aggravated trafficking in prescription narcotics, according to court records.

Rumford police again arrested Hill on March 14 on charges of terrorizing and two counts of violation of bail. An 11th District Court judge then found Hill guilty of violating conditions of release and sentenced him to 48 hours in jail. A jury trial was scheduled for the terrorizing charge.

Hill was again arrested on March 29 by Rumford police on another charge of violation of bail condition.

“He just keeps getting in trouble,” Milligan said. “We were receiving information that he was still selling drugs despite being on bail with other drug charges pending.”

Paralegal secretary Rosemary Reese of the Oxford County District Attorney’s Office in Paris said Wednesday that a motion was filed and granted to continue Hill’s initial trial in July due to a death in the  family of the prosecutor trying the case.

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